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Felicific Calculus
The felicific calculus is an algorithm formulated by utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1747–1832) for calculating the degree or amount of pleasure that a specific action is likely to induce. Bentham, an ethical hedonist, believed the moral rightness or wrongness of an action to be a function of the amount of pleasure or pain that it produced. The felicific calculus could, in principle at least, determine the moral status of any considered act. The algorithm is also known as the utility calculus, the hedonistic calculus and the hedonic calculus. To be included in this calculation are several variables (or vectors), which Bentham called "circumstances". These are: # Intensity: How strong is the pleasure? # Duration: How long will the pleasure last (its magnitude is composed)? # Certainty or uncertainty: How likely or unlikely is it that the pleasure will occur (its probability)? # Propinquity or remoteness: How soon will the pleasure occur (measured by its opposite)? ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing calculations and data processing. More advanced algorithms can perform automated deductions (referred to as automated reasoning) and use mathematical and logical tests to divert the code execution through various routes (referred to as automated decision-making). Using human characteristics as descriptors of machines in metaphorical ways was already practiced by Alan Turing with terms such as "memory", "search" and "stimulus". In contrast, a heuristic is an approach to problem solving that may not be fully specified or may not guarantee correct or optimal results, especially in problem domains where there is no well-defined correct or optimal result. As an effective method, an algorithm can be expressed within a finite amount of sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doggerel
Doggerel, or doggrel, is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. Alternatively, it can mean verse which has a monotonous rhythm, easy rhyme, and cheap or trivial meaning. The word is derived from the Middle English ''dogerel'', probably a derivative of ''dog''. In English it has been used as an adjective since the 14th century and a noun since at least 1630. Appearing since ancient times in the literatures of many cultures, doggerel is characteristic of nursery rhymes and children's song. Examples The Scottish poet William McGonagall (1825-1902) has become famous for his doggerel, which many remember with affection despite its seeming technical flaws, as in his poem "The Tay Bridge Disaster": Hip hop lyrics have also explored the artful possibilities of doggerel. . Chaucer's Tale of Sir Thopas is written in this format. It irritates the Host of The Tabard so much that he interrupts him and makes him tell a differ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bellman Equation
A Bellman equation, named after Richard E. Bellman, is a necessary condition for optimality associated with the mathematical optimization method known as dynamic programming. It writes the "value" of a decision problem at a certain point in time in terms of the payoff from some initial choices and the "value" of the remaining decision problem that results from those initial choices. This breaks a dynamic optimization problem into a sequence of simpler subproblems, as Bellman's “principle of optimality" prescribes. The equation applies to algebraic structures with a total ordering; for algebraic structures with a partial ordering, the generic Bellman's equation can be used. The Bellman equation was first applied to engineering control theory and to other topics in applied mathematics, and subsequently became an important tool in economic theory; though the basic concepts of dynamic programming are prefigured in John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern's '' Theory of Games and Eco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Act Utilitarianism
Act utilitarianism is a utilitarian theory of ethics that states that a person's act is morally right if and only if it produces the best possible results in that specific situation. Classical utilitarians, including Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and Henry Sidgwick, define happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain. Overview To understand how act utilitarianism works, compare the consequences of watching television all day tomorrow to the consequences of doing charity work tomorrow. One could produce more overall happiness in the world by doing charity work tomorrow than by watching television all day tomorrow. According to act utilitarianism, then, the right thing to do tomorrow is to go out and do charity work; it is wrong to stay home and watch television all day. Act utilitarianism is based on the principle of utility, which is the basis of all utilitarian theories and is best summed up in Bentham's well-known phrase, "the greatest happiness for the greatest number ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawrence M
Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparatory & high schools * Lawrence Academy at Groton, a preparatory school in Groton, Massachusetts, United States * Lawrence College, Ghora Gali, a high school in Pakistan * Lawrence School, Lovedale, a high school in India * The Lawrence School, Sanawar, a high school in India Research laboratories * Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States * Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, United States People * Lawrence (given name), including a list of people with the name * Lawrence (surname), including a list of people with the name * Lawrence (band), an American soul-pop group * Lawrence (judge royal) (died after 1180), Hungarian nobleman, Judge royal 1164–1172 * Lawrence (musician), Lawrence Hayward (born 1961), British ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Units Of Measurements
A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multiple of the unit of measurement. For example, a length is a physical quantity. The metre (symbol m) is a unit of length that represents a definite predetermined length. For instance, when referencing "10 metres" (or 10 m), what is actually meant is 10 times the definite predetermined length called "metre". The definition, agreement, and practical use of units of measurement have played a crucial role in human endeavour from early ages up to the present. A multitude of systems of units used to be very common. Now there is a global standard, the International System of Units (SI), the modern form of the metric system. In trade, weights and measures is often a subject of governmental regulation, to ensure fairness and transpar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religious
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements; however, there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacred things, faith,Tillich, P. (1957) ''Dynamics of faith''. Harper Perennial; (p. 1). a supernatural being or supernatural beings or "some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life". Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of deities or saints), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Popular
Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the total population of a certain place ** Populism, a political philosophy, based on the idea that the common people are being exploited. * Informal usage or custom, as in popular names, as opposed to formal or scientific nomenclature Companies * Popular, Inc., also known as ''Banco Popular'', a financial services company * Popular Holdings, a Singapore-based educational book company * The Popular (department store), a chain of department stores in El Paso, Texas, from 1902 to 1995 * ''The Popular Magazine'', an American literary magazine that ran for 612 issues from November 1903 to October 1931 Media Music * "Popular" (Darren Hayes song) (2004), on the album ''The Tension and the Spark'' * "Popular" (Eric Saade song) (2011), on the albu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moral
A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A moral is a lesson in a story or in real life. Finding morals As an example of an explicit maxim, at the end of Aesop's fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, in which the plodding and determined tortoise won a race against the much-faster yet extremely arrogant hare, the stated moral is "slow and steady wins the race". However, other morals can often be taken from the story itself; for instance, that arrogance or overconfidence in one's abilities may lead to failure or the loss of an event, race, or contest. The use of stock characters is a means of conveying the moral of the story by eliminating complexity of personality and depicting the issues arising in the interplay between the characters, enabling the writer to generate a clear mes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies politics and government is referred to as political science. It may be used positively in the context of a "political solution" which is compromising and nonviolent, or descriptively as "the art or science of government", but also often carries a negative connotation.. The concept has been defined in various ways, and different approaches have fundamentally differing views on whether it should be used extensively or limitedly, empirically or normatively, and on whether conflict or co-operation is more essential to it. A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws, and exercising internal and external force, includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physical
Physical may refer to: * Physical examination, a regular overall check-up with a doctor * ''Physical'' (Olivia Newton-John album), 1981 ** "Physical" (Olivia Newton-John song) * ''Physical'' (Gabe Gurnsey album) * "Physical" (Alcazar song) (2004) * "Physical" (Enrique Iglesias song) (2014) * "Physical" (Dua Lipa song) (2020) *"Physical (You're So)", a 1980 song by Adam & the Ants, the B side to " Dog Eat Dog" * ''Physical'' (TV series), an American television series See also {{disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Equality
Equality may refer to: Society * Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing ** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elites ** Egalitarianism, a trend of thought that favors equality for all people ** Equal opportunity, a stipulation that all people should be treated similarly ** Equality of outcome, in which the general conditions of people's lives are similar ** For specific groups: *** Gender equality *** Racial equality ** Equality Party (other), several political parties * Social equality, in which all people within a group have the same status, a form of social justice. * Economic inequality Law * Equality before the law, the principle under which all people are subject to the same laws * Equality Act (other), several pieces of legislation Mathematics and logic * Equality (mathematics), the relationship between expressions that re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
