Philosophy

The conversation between these two friends presents two moralities of reasoning and sanity (rationalism) that continues to form basic foundations of a society. Socrates found himself in a tough position after his friend Crito visited him in prison with an intention of helping him escape. Socrates had been wrongly accused of being immoral and corrupting the youth of Athens. Socrates was full aware of his sentence of death by drinking poison yet when his friend came to rescue him, he preferred to face the judgment rather than running away. Through Crito, his friends were concerned of losing a dear friend and that is why they were willing to corrupt the law and get their friend out of prison.  Socrates is seen here to side with the harsh decision government than his friends (Benson, 1992). The moral stand taken by Socrates is guided by his reasoning that, the society has its right in asserting its morals. To him, the society he was living in had found him guilty of contradicting its morals.

He explains that the society had judged him justly according to its standards of right and wrong. He therefore saw no reason of running away from his government. By the fact that he had accepted himself and was willing to remain as a member of Athenian society, he felt that he had made an agreement with that society to live by its laws. In his argument, corruption and escaping from prison presented a potential mischief and hurt to the overall society by trying to preserve his self-being out of justice system of the government (Benson, 1992). In this aspect, he wanted to remain as a good citizen, therefore, the idea of escaping to exile seemed dishonorable to him and therefore he could not abide to it.

In his other opinion, he feels proud of the kind of life he had led. In his part, He had accomplished his social responsibility for all of his life. Yet the same society had judge him unjustly. To Socrates, two wrongs do not make a right. Society had wronged by judging him unjustly, therefore, did not have to commit a counter-offence by escaping from prison.

In Platos apology, the defendant (Socrates) has been accused of corrupting the youth and searching into things which are under the earth and in heaven and makes worse things to look better. His accusers also sought to silence him arguing that his eloquence was only based on falsehood. The apology portrays the plaintiff (Meletus) to be surprised by the defense presented in court by Socrates. In his defense, Socrates argues that he is nothing but a great truth speaker who is being prejudiced for the same. He argues that his eloquence is no different form that of his accusers only that his accusers who hardly speak the truth.

In defense of his accusation that he is corrupting the youth, Socrates argues that since childhood his accusers had been on the frontline taking possession of the minds of the Athenian people and spreading falsehood which they now accuse Socrates of. In the court, Socrates dares Meletus to cite a single thing which he has for the youth but he only remains silent. According to Socrates, the silence is a disgrace and an indication that Meletus have no interest in the matter. Contradiction arises when Socrates answers that the good do good to their neighbors and the evil do evil to them. In his defense, he says that if at all he is corrupting the youth then it is unintentional and the law has no provision for the unintentional offences.

The other contradiction is evident where Socrates is accused of being an atheist rather than a leader. In his defense, he makes the judges to believe that Meletus believes that, the sun is stone and the moon is the earth. He puts Meletus in a fix where he says that Meletus has a bad opinion of the judges and he fancies them as illiterate to the degree that they will not recognize that he is accusing Anaxagoras. In his argument, Socrates says he believes in demigods who are the sons of gods. He sees no basis on the accusation when he cites that it is not possible to confirm that mules exist but horses and asses dont.

Finally, through his courage and persistence, Socrates, demonstrates the difference between an accused man and one who is already condemned.

Philip A. Mackowiak in his book, Post Mortem Solving Historys Great Medical Mysteries, has discussed at great length the mysterious deaths of the past and how with the help of todays science we can solve those mysteries which in other words is retrospective diagnosis any illness of a historical figure identified after death using recent methodologies. The author discusses at length twelve famous people, their historical setting and background, disease symptoms, myths, probable causes and syndromes associated with death and arriving at the best fit. The book serves to comprehend a vast knowledge of medical terms and is written in a simple yet engrossing way that a person not related to the field of medicine may appreciate it fully.

Post Mortem
Dr. Philip A. Mackowiak is a distinguished professor of medicine. For a span of fourteen years, Mackowiak has presented challenging historical medical mysteries in form of case studies in front of an awed audience in Baltimore. This book contains twelve such case studies presented in those Clinicopathological Conferences (Baltimore). As the name suggests, the book is really a thorough evaluation of each historical figure and the inexplicable deaths which ensued them, some lost in time and some left in the middle of the process of being solved. Science in all its forms has continued to amaze humans, providing reasons well aligned with the brain to make believe, explained and unexplained phenomenas in this universe. In Philip A. Mackowiaks book, Post Mortem Solving Historys Great Medical Mysteries, there are such evaluations and assessments of the past aligned with what we have learned today with the advancement of medicine and genetic study, that they unravel mysteries which have boggled minds and are yet to be resolved. The deaths and the mysterious ailments that would have caused them, of historic figures (who of course intrigue us the most), and an analysis following those mysteries, Mackowiak has attempted to satisfy our curiosity giving a detailed and in depth analysis of what might have been. The book ultimately serves to guide us to at least consider, if not believe, and link other cases as a challenge to the past and present unidentified ailments. The concept of retrospective diagnosis is brought into light which is itself the application of modern methods, processes and techniques in order to recognize or resolve an unidentifiable case of disease or ailment of a historical figure after hisher death. The symptoms of the patient which are recorded as a matter of safe keeping of historical interests are focused and matched against a variety of present known diseases where the best match is approved of. Mackowiak in this book applies the same notion and extends our knowledge to match the most basic question  are those same diseases a bigger threat to us today than they had been in the past and, if so, what better options are there The book links all the evidences available to us and talks on the basis of pure fact and logic.

Mackowiaks Insights Analysis and Review
Post mortem has twelve chapters in all, each dedicated to a separate controversial famous historical figure who contributed to the past, leaving their prints on the sands of time mortals vanishing, while their origin and life events can be traced, their deaths have become a mystery which to the great dismay of historians have yet to be accounted for. Such is the human nature if something is defined by a beginning then it has to have an ending and this is why we are not just satisfied with the words as in the book
The cause of Alexanders death remains a mystery even today, after over two millennia of scrutiny and speculation.

There has to be an answer and as Mackowiak points out  there are many. He has discussed twelve people namely Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, Greek statesman and General Pericles, Alexander the Great, King Herod, Beethoven, Mozart, Florence Nightingale, Booker T. Washington, Joan of Arc, Christopher Columbus, the Roman Emperor Claudius, and Edgar Allan Poe. Each chapter starts in an intriguing way designating the famous figure as a patient  a case under study, laying out hisher background and worth in history, and then disclosing the identity. The title of each chapter has been thoughtfully kept, hinting about its case like, The Human Praying Mantis as Akhenatens appearance resembled one. There are recorded accounts, heard details or painted representations, some very accurate and some eroded away or misplaced, these evidences are the only basis of the research carried out in the quest to solve the mysterious deaths of the named above. He has also stated what the most famous and influential physicians back then had concluded of the possible ailment and what sort of treatment had been carried out for 3500 years that this book covers. He has sometimes confirmed their diagnosis, taken help from it and further rejected some ideas which the modern science has found to be different from the ones in ancient times. Author starts with the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten from the 14th century BCE who ruled Egypt for the next seventeen years, turning away from the ways of his ancestors and establishing the sun-disc god. Akhenaten is pictured to be rather ugly with a serpentine neck, elongated head, large ears, pot belly and spider shaped feet and hands. There is a debate starting from a variety of syndromes from Frhlich syndrome to Marfan syndrome and Schistosomal cirrhosis. He pointed out the most suitable answer to be Klinefelter syndrome  genetic disorder. Next is Athens in 490 BCE and its General  Pericles. Known to be one of the most significant cases linked to epidemics calling it a holocaust because of the number of lives it claimed, its diagnosis is evaluated from the work of Thucydides and Hippocrates. The epidemic still remained undiagnosed two millennia later to which the author attributes certain causes. Debate ensued from typhus, pneumonia, influenza, measles, scurvy, bubonic plague and anthrax. The epidemic was concluded to be outbreak of smallpox also saying that Thucydides record might have been biased when he was affected by the disease.

And so the other figures, their histories, their medical records and contemporary physicians treatments, roll out systematically in front of us where the author debates and argues and links and then again argues about what possibly is or might have been. Alexander the Great is identified with the first case of typhoid fever ever against which, some believed, including himself, that he was poisoned. The Jewish Roman Client Kind of Israel, King Herod is diagnosed with a gangrenous penis and worm-afflicted death. Emperor Claudius of Rome was concluded to have movement complexities as well as personality ones leading to Tourette syndrome. Christopher Columbuss case of reactive arthritis is attributed to be caught from an infected parrot by the bacterium Chlamydia psittaci after his return from the famous sea voyage to Portugal. Presence of a DNA test would have confirmed a different birth place even for Columbus as Mackowiak believes but sadly the distant past doesnt offer us that authority. Joan of Arc, a brave rebel, is questioned on her sanity during her presence in the heresy trial. Was she mentally ill Evidently Mackowiak takes us through a convincing journey of diagnosis of the patients acts of mind. The author talks about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the famous composer who died mysteriously at the age of 35 years, reportedly the summit of his fame. He is said by some to have died of rheumatic fever while others suggest influenza and mercury or arsenic poisoning.

Author concludes that he died due to a case of poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis, nephritic syndrome based on the patients symptoms of intolerable body scent and edema (collection of fluid under skin as a result of uncontrolled homeostasis). Along with Mozart, Ludwig van Beethovens long illness and controversial death is debated about. Again there might be several cases. Lead poisoning or liver cirrhosis because of huge amount of alcohol consumption is believed upon as indicated by his autopsy but what Mackowiak pursues is syphilis. Edgar Allan Poe is focused, who was a great American writer and poet of the Romantic Movement. His death remains a mystery till today which Mackowiak tries to resolve convincing us that his repetitive spells of delirium tremens occurred due to excessive intake of alcohol. Delirium tremens is known as the withdrawal symptom of addiction to alcohol. But there have been many other theories including rabies, meningeal inflammation and epilepsy. Florence Nightingale, the leading figure in the history of nursing, is identified as the Lady with the Lamp for her constant tending to soldiers at night during her service in the Crimean war. From the period of 1857, Florence was confined to bed for more than thirty years of her life. The mysterious question is why The diagnosis lead Mackowiak to explain that it was probably due to her contraction of brucellosis which would have been due to her consumption of goat raw milk and meat goods during her service in war. Further in her life the author suggests her illness to be post-traumatic stress disorder along with bipolar disorder. War, a depressive time might also have been the cause for it.

Philip A. Mackowiak has done a fascinating and marvelous work. He has not left out any aspects ever recorded in history and calculated against them his own arguments based upon profound knowledge, concise and clear. They satisfy the reader to the fullest. Some of the records are missing while others been documented right down to their minute details the deaths still remain a mystery but one that can be pondered upon now. The experts have done their best in identifying what has us in doubt for centuries. The most important aspect, apart from dissemination of very interesting information, of this book is that the historical figures serve as classical case studies to follow up and study upon. Many questions arise from this work like whys and hows of what these historical figures did as they did and how are their deaths significantly related to their life events. Also at what, did physicians, at that time, erred in their treatment and why What could they have done that would have saved their patients There are footnotes and references at the end of each chapter which I strongly recommend each reader to further refer as they are excellent reads. This book is bound to hold captive its readers figure by figure and is a must guide for medical students.

This research is aimed at examining the logic and habits of pharmaceutical companies in search of its benefits and principle rules to direct university industry partnerships that portray the public interests. This study involves various participants. Researchers are the principle participants in the study. This study also involves human subjects who happen to be institutionalized individuals. The drug being tested is phelpxytine decanoate manufactured by the GHI pharmaceutical company. St X University is the academic institution where the research will take place. The GHI Company has already funded the university to carry out the research and the researchers have presented ethics application to St X University Research Ethics Board for approval.

Research Ethics Board Debate
The REB should not approve the study. The relationship between St X University and GHI pharmaceutical industry should be such that, the university provides a check on the hasty interests of the industry. Though Universities have been playing a major role in the creation of new products for pharmaceutical companies, this study is not ethical. Company funded research are more likely to support the therapy than those funded by a private group. Data is also likely to be falsified. Questions as well as the study may be designed in such a way that the probability of getting positive results is increased.

Rules should be put in place to govern the pharmaceutical industries-university relationship. The responsibility of all research should be placed in the hands of the association of universities and colleges. Health research should be taken as a subset of all research with the university being the institution of record rather than an affiliate. Health sciences should not be allowed to develop ethical standards in segregation. St X Universities should set up rules that do not allow it to bend its responsibility to control practices in its well financially supported peripheries. St X Universities should not be allowed to defend its interest with consistent complexity and dynamism. It is for the best interest of the public if a committee was set up to oversee all the research that involves human subjects (Lewis, Baird, Evans, et al, (2001).

All rules should be designed in such a way that they protect the intellectual integrity of not only St X universities, but also all other universities. If these rules culminate to positive effects, the industry habits would improve enlightened companies would take up moral policies that may in time eliminate the suspicion and distrust that current antagonism have without doubt produced.

To minimize cases of bias during research of this drug, a double blind trial should be employed. In double blind trials, neither the researcher nor the subject knows who is on control and who is receiving the real treatment. Double blind trials are the gold standards for medical studies. They eliminate bias on the part of the researchers and the subjects. Use of double blind trials is very important in research as it culminates to higher principles of scientific strictness. It also eliminates influence of the bias as well as unintentional physical signs on the outcome. The key that identifies the group to which subjects are assigned to should be given to a third party and not to the researchers, the university or the GHI pharmaceutical company. Double blind method would be very helpful in our case because there are chances that the results of the research may be tampered with. Subjects in the study should be numbered and assigned randomly to either the experiment group or the control group and then given drugs marked with matching random numbers (Thurnell-Read, 2007).

It would be unethical to withhold the drug to the control group if the drug is realized to be effective. It would also be unethical to continue with the research if the side effects of the drug are so severe that the researchers and the subjects predict the side of the experiment they were assigned to.

It is not in line with the ethical standards for the GHI Company to give funds to St X University. As per the moral standards, all research funds are supposed to be given to the Association of Universities and Colleges rather than to the University directly. The pharmaceutical company should also not give funds directly to the researchers. If it were to do so, it would manipulate the researchers forcing them to develop results that only favor their financial gains. Chances would also be high that the pharmaceutical company would give incentives to the researchers in order to make sure that they only come up with results in favor of the drug (Smith, 1992).

As noted by Smith (1992), scientists and researchers are charged with the responsibility of ensuring the ethical and scientific validity of all research they conduct. Researchers and scientists in academic institutions work under the guidance of the research ethical board which assists by providing them with guidelines and policies to be followed during the experiments. Scientists have specialized, fiduciary, and moral interests in the accountable performance of research. All scientists are under large scientific bodies which deal with their financial issues. Funds are not given directly to the researchers and therefore they cannot be manipulated by the organizations that fund them.

Scientists however, cannot be assumed to be a hundred percent free of bias. If scientists put their focus in financial interest, they are more likely to produce biased results. Non-financial interests of scientists could also compromise the accountable conducts of the study.

It is ethically unacceptable for GHI pharmaceutical industry to give funds directly to the research team. This would provide a base for manipulation of the research team. They would be forced to declare their results positive though they may be negative. GHI pharmaceutical industry would also control the release of results to the public. The GHI pharmaceutical industry would only release results that favor its financial gains.

The key threat to the scientific transparency currently is the corporate money and tricks directed towards co-opting the good name of studies for the pursuit of profit. Pharmaceutical scandals whereby companies withhold all data that does not favor their products and conceal financial interests of the drug have revealed this.

The GHI pharmaceutical company does not have the mandate of restricting the publication of the results of the drug whether they are positive or negative. Even if the drug proves ineffective, the results should be published for the interest of the public. Researchers should be free from any coercion either from St X University or the GHI Company to produce results that only proves the drug to be effective. The research team should be free to make publication of the outcome whether the drug is affective or ineffective.

The main purpose of ethical principles as illustrated by Lewis, Baird, Evans, et al, (2001) is to direct and induce considerate actions founded on principles. These ethics have been widely utilized in various research disciplines. They put across general standards, ideals and objectives of the research society. One of the ethical issues is the reverence for human dignity. Diverse interests of a person ranging from bodily to psychological to cultural honor should be safeguarded. The principle of respect for human dignity forms the foundations of the moral obligation in study.

Respect for free will and informed consent is the other ethical consideration in research. A person is commonly assumed to have the capability and right to make free as well as informed decisions. Exercise of individuals consent should be respected in the process of research.

All vulnerable individuals are supposed to be respected. Vulnerable individuals are people who have reduced competence and ability to make decisions. Among the vulnerable group of people who should be protected from exploitation and abuse on the foundation of human dignity, fairness and unity are children and institutionalized people. Ethical obligations to vulnerable groups require that special measures for safeguarding their interests be put in place.

Privacy and confidentiality of a person are to be respected. Standards of privacy as stated by the Canadian institute of health research (2005) should be applied for the control and dissemination of persons information. Justice and inclusiveness should also be upheld. Justice ensures that proper research methods are utilized during research and that burdens of research are not subjected to the vulnerable group alone. Ethical principles require for balancing of benefits and harms of the study. A harmsbenefits analysis should be conducted to make sure that harms do not outweigh benefits.

Ethical principles require that human beings should not be subjected to unnecessary dangers of harm. As per ethical principles researches should involve the smallest number of human subjects possible. Beneficence is the other ethical principle related to the benefits as well as harms of study.  Moral ethics impose a duty on research to benefit others as well as increase the total number of benefits. Subjects used in research play a very big part to the advancement and guarantee of research in advancing the condition of human being. Subjects collaborate with researchers as participants in the development of a research project. Subjects should therefore not be taken as objects rather their interests should be core to the research. It is not always that subjects and the researchers will see the benefits and the harms of a research in a similar manner. Individual subjects may respond in different ways though they are in the same study. The research ethical board must do all it can to understand the views of the research (Canadian institute of health research, 2005).

St X University as well as other Universities is supposed to look for the truth. GHI and other Pharmaceutical companies on the other hand have a responsibility of making money for their stakeholders. If a pharmaceutical company fails to make money for its stakeholders, it is thrown out of business. A university that does not provide the society with truth on the other hand losses credibility as well as its position. At times, institutional essentials are bound to disagree. If any of the institution abandons its principle mission, it finally fails. Research can serve the interest of the public or be subverted to serve the interest of the company. Subverting the purpose of research corrupts the integrity of researchers as well as the research institutions.

According to Lewis, Baird, Evans, et al. (2001), some relationship between the universities and the industries are unified by an unbiased pursuit of innovation others are unholy associations in which researchers as well as the university becomes helpers of the industry. Such an association places the interests of the industry well above those of the University and the society. Major difference in revelation requirements, inadequate safeguard of the right to publish in a timely fashion, and researchers having monetary interests in the company potentially affected by the results of their research are some of the evidences that illustrate how some associations may be unholy. The main aim of these unholy associations is the publication of positive outcomes of trails of new medicines only. Publications may also be made showing that the new drug is superior to other competitor drugs in the market. As a result, the sales of the company may be increased. Negative outcomes develop unhappy industry partners. It is the mandate of St X University as well as other Universities to safeguard their own culture and orientation. This however, has not been achieved. Money has been put into the scene leading to inadequate oversight as well as insufficient standardization of rules to settle disputes. Universities status is tarnished production of drug therapies that cannot help, and increase in the cost of drugs, emerge as a result.

When the interest of the public and the private sector conflict, some companies have been shown to protect the interests of their shareholders fiercely. If it develops a drug that acts the same way as another drug in the market, it will tend to market that drug at a very high cost in order to get back its expenses. Pharmaceutical companies in such cases are forced to extensively persuade physicians, pharmacists, as well as the public that its drug is actually the best. In addition to threats and lawsuits, results of therapeutic effects of a certain drug are inclined towards the positive results. Funding done by the pharmaceutical company will lead to creation of incentives to support the positive and repress the negative. The pharmaceutical company may either control the publication of the results or hold back the negative results. The truth is incompletely revealed and therefore compromised when pharmaceutical industries control publication of the outcome. As a result if the researchers, laboratories as well as career prospects depend on the renewed industry financial support of their interests may start to go in line with those of their paymasters (Lewis, Baird, Evans, et al., 2001).

The right of the university to reveal the research findings, whether negative or positive, immediately after clinical trials and make the results public freely should be preserved. Guidelines should be laid down and followed to determine if a proposed industry-university project is of adequate academic novelty and imperative to meet the criteria of being an academic activity. Should the project not succeed, it should be regarded as a consulting contract and therefore priced and managed as such. All universityindustry agreements as well as contracts should be filed with the supervision body. All clinical trials should also be registered.  A debriefing should be written and signed by all parties at the end of every university-industry agreement. This debriefing should be filed by the supervision body as well as a hearing process to settle disputes. A rating system should be put in place to evaluate the scientific reliability, adherence of contracts as well as obligation to academic liberty, level of intrusion in the conduct of study and suitability of monetary arrangements. Surtax levied on all university-industry contracts should be used to establish a central office as well as its supervision actions and cater for the cost of defending researchers against harassment by industries. An ombudsperson should be appointed to whom all concerns about the joint venture will be referred to by the researchers and the industry. All agencies funding health studies are required to take part in and support the developed set of rules founded on these common values and arrangements (Lewis, Baird, Evans, et al., 2001).

Resolutions
Disputes are bound to arise during development of new drugs. These disputes may involve complex decisions that are commercially and scientifically important. Measures should be put in place so as to encourage open and quick discussion of such disputes leading to their resolution.

Safeguards
Only a limited number of authorized people should have access to the records kept during the process of research. This greatly helps in reducing chances of tampering with the results of the study. The researchers should record any information acquired from the subjects during the process for research as soon as possible. The research ethical board of St X University should ensure that all the research guidelines are implemented and followed to the latter.

According to Sayer, knowledge in social science is concerned with reification of actions taken by human beings in the society. The social aspect of human beings includes culture, business, communication, economics, political science, linguistics and philosophy. These areas are subject to understanding social phenomena in relation to the society that depends on the nature of social phenomena. This requires critical thinking and knowledge in order to analyze the subject matter of social science. To understand clearly the critical objective of social phenomena, it is important to examine critically the subject matter of social science by its own. In this research, conclusions are derived on the basis of explanations in relation to social phenomena that considered to be important.

The improvement of any research, especially, in project management depends entirely on alternative social changes, reconstruction and normative issues. The relationship between these aspects of social changes can lead to both positive and negative effects. To succeed in project management that is based on social science, the researcher must be in a position to defend arguments against false beliefs. Working in relation to the human needs is one major way of achieving good results. Social science criticism involves social responsibilities that sometimes fail to address normative questions. Critical social science therefore needs to be addressed and acknowledged through the proper normative disclosure.

Critical realism concerning any matter that relates to social science is very important as it is the means through which different research projects are achieved. According to Roy Bhaskar a British philosopher, critical realism in the philosophy of social science is an aspect that helps to do away with postmodern challenges. The aim of critical realism is to show the significant objective of carrying out a critical project. Critical realism is socially situated rather than socially determined. This means that in social science, critical realism maintains the objective criticism that helps to promote change in social science. The ultimate importance of the social change aids in the development of human freedom.

Roy Bhaskar came up with the philosophy of science known as transcendental realism and critical naturalism. Other authors combined these two critiques where they consequently formed critical realism. Transcendental realism shows that there are some elements of social science that must be fulfilled. The objective of the investigation must be real, easy to manipulate and should obviously apply internal mechanisms that should be put in place to achieve certain outcome. A research project is like an experiment that is done through the application of the mentioned sentiments. The major implication of critical realism in social science is to understand it as an on-going process. There are certain changes that need to be done in order to understand the objective of the research.

Social science includes the common sense in order to understand the subject matter of a given research. Therefore, there is a common relationship between critical realism and social science. The relationship is used as means to understand consciousness of evaluating what has not been examined. Failing to use critical realism in social science leads to poor evaluations thus inadequacies exists in research. Another major aspect is social phenomena that go hand in hand with the evaluation and criticism of the understanding of societies in regard to social science. For instance, to make an evaluation on economic recession, it is important to critically evaluate formal and informal theories that give information on the performance of politicians, individuals and perhaps institutions. Social science is the backbone of every research project because critical understanding of the society gives adequate information. Society is the major source of information because anything that happens in the modern society is the reflection of activities carried on by the society members. To achieve good results, there is a need to be objective, critical and observe common basics for understanding.

The philosophical observation of social science can be compared with an experiment that is done practically to achieve certain outcome. Knowledge and social science are two common elements that go hand in hand to show the critical realism about reality. The most important  issue  in philosophy is to address the matter of how  reality should  be  taken to make  the  existence  of  social science  real. This  is  the argument of  Roy Bhasker and  it  is a  true  reflection of  what  happens  in the society. Researchers have to apply a framework that provides guidelines so as to reflect the theoretical practice of the human intervention in reality. However, from the perspective of critical realism the society is that it is structured, stratified and elusive and these three elements justify the importance of scientific research and theory. Roy Bhasker developed three basic domains of reality   from realist theory of science that is empirical, actual and real.

The  empirical aspect  of reality consists of life experiences that shape  the human lifestyle, actual domain  consists  of events  that  might be or  may  not  be  experienced in life and  the  real domain consists  of  activities  that may  be experienced or fail to be  experienced in both actual and  empirical domain. Knowledge is very important in the social aspect of the human life, because it is used to deal with reality. This clearly leads to the explanation of how it is impossible to remove reality without making an object cease. Critical realism is a social science element that differentiates radical from empiricist concepts. It  is  an explanation of  why and  what makes  events  happen as they  occur in the  real life  of  human beings. This is the guiding principle of philosophy as a reflection of social science. There are some observations made in real life situations that sustain critical realism.

The first observation is that causal powers are deeply rooted to their inner structure that cannot be easily observed. This requires the internal power and capacity so as to show how realism is the basic mechanism that leads to the generation of the output. The second observation is that there must exist external conditions that trigger generative mechanisms. These external conditions help to differentiate between the objective mechanisms of generation and the actual effects of realism. The third observation is to understand casualty in relation to the tendencies that characterize the objective structure. In order  to  be  real, an individual needs not  to understand  empirical events because  some  external conditions  may  not  exist. In addition, the external factors  should  not  always  be  considered as  the  sole  cause  of  generative mechanism.

 As compared to the social science research, IT governance involves a system in which all business stakeholders such as internal customers, the board of directors, the heads of departments have the capacity to express their view when it comes to the organizational decision making process. This is an important aspect of  social science that incorporates all stakeholders in the decision making process, so that nobody will be blamed incase a misfortune occurs. The users are exposed to an internal system that advocates for views of every individual who has the capacity to make decision. Governance has been the major problem for many business entities and this has forced business leaders to incur a lot of finance trying to improve it. The good business governance is the success of all organization entities while the bad governance leads to an ineffective way of the business administration processes.

The causal powers that constitute social structures allow human beings to act in the way they act in real life. Individuals  act in a  manner  to  suggest  both closed and  open systems that are  based  on structural powers and  the knowledge  of  human beings. A closed system works without the support of other generative mechanisms to achieve the desired outcome of the researcher. This is a reflection of the natural social science events that a researcher considers to isolate generative mechanisms from other behaviors. On the other hand, an open system is a reflection of reality in social science that interconnects various generative mechanisms such as culture, religion, race, social life and technology. These generative mechanisms work independently, thus they counteract the causal tendencies of each other. The  society, in which individuals live,  is  a  social science phenomena  that  is  composed  of  different  strata, such as  social, biological and psychological. These  strata  are  relatively  independent  from each other  and constitute the open  system of  generative  mechanism that does  not  necessarily lead to causal effects.

The different types of inferences used to explain the social phenomena differentiate the  realist from other  researchers. The research topic of this paper, IT auditing and governance, is a reflection of the generative mechanism. This  observation is true  because  there  are particular  observable  changes associated  with  IT auditing and  governance as in the  case of  social phenomena. Realist researchers emphasize on observable events and non observable structures that are critical in IT auditing and governance. An IT auditor works in close range with the provisions of generative mechanisms and this is a reflection on the importance of research objective. The use of knowledge too is a reflection on how social science must be critical on its object.  When an IT auditor has no knowledge of how to apply the information technology governance, the research on particular area may be of no importance.

Explanation is another important concept of critical realism, which considers the aims of social science that is to explain social conditions in a particular phenomenon. IT auditing and governance is a reflection of causal powers that are found in unobservable structures. The auditor carries out his or her duties independently and this leads to the evaluation and assessment of various weak areas in the social organization. There are six stages that are connected to the unobservable inner structure of a researcher. The six stages include the following the description, analytical resolution, theoretical redescription, reintroduction, comparison and contextualization. These stages reflect the effects of IT auditing and governance in regard to the generative mechanism that results in concrete situations.

Like all facets of social sciences, ineffective governance creates problems that complicate the process of insurance, blown budgets, poor investments and the failure of IT applications in other sectors. The problem of ineffective governance results in the frustration of the organizational activities and the paralysis of transactions. Governance also promotes the creation of business transactions that lead to the expansion of business and thus to high profits. Governance has led to the development of business and IT that results in the promotion of strategic vision for many organizations. Governance has also led to the delivery of important functions that support good business plans hence the organization moves forward.  The major role of governance in business is to ensure that entities achieve the value in IT thus reducing risks related to the information technology projects.

The role of the IT audit is associated with business models that constantly keep on changing due to the development of information technologies. The change in the way business is carried out should be accompanied with the way auditors resort to in carrying out their duties. Andrew Sayer argues that social science is only critical about its change and this reflects how IT audit and governance are related. During the past years, there has been the technological evolution accompanied by new business models such as outsourcing, decentralization and down sizing. These changes have taken auditing profession to another level that embraces the culture of the information technology. Business transactions are no more local due to the development of the internet that is integrated into business to provide a good environment for business transactions.

The audit framework leads to the generative mechanism that helps individuals to evaluate on their performance in various aspects of social life. The role of information technology auditing therefore has seen many business entities achieve their goals which is the major objective of any social science research.

Through the provision of a good framework, IT auditors work more efficiently than ever before producing good results. The framework provides for planning, organization, acquisition, delivery, implementation, support and monitoring. These are the common governance models that are aligned with business strategies to come up with good performance. The performance of auditors and the cooperation of business leaders enhance the evaluation of governance models that makes it easy to establish weak areas in the organization. The establishment of weak areas in the management of the organization is the main objective of auditing task. It is important in the sense that measures are put in place to seal these loopholes that are used fro sole benefit of the management.

There are certain generative mechanism models that are used with other business strategies resulting in a good outcome. The first model is planning and organization that incorporate the efforts of the management and the board of directors. Business leaders have the capacity to develop strategies that ensure businesses to achieve their objectives through putting in place a technological infrastructure. The service of IT auditors is very necessary when it comes to the implementation of the best policies to be used, since they are thus responsible for any auditing problem that arises. The role of the auditor is to evaluate and check whether the delivery of services in the business entity is in line with business objectives. He or she is concerned with the quality management that involves the development of the strategic planning. The strategic plan should be in line with the entities mission and the vision statement which must guide the auditor. In addition, it should align with identification of various work plans, various measurement policies to be adopted and the recognition of specific projects. The aim of the IT auditor in this case is to come up with strategic IT plan, determination of technological direction, communicate the aims and directions of management, ensure there is strict compliance with external requirements, assess risks and manage quality.

The second governance model is the acquisition and the implementation that helps the auditor to realize good business strategies and tactics. The solution to IT related problems needs to be acquired, developed and identified. The auditors role is to asses the best process for developing and acquiring good models. The support in terms of control in regard to the acquisition and maintenance of good application software should be provided. The role of the IT auditor in the implementation and maintenance includes the identification of good automated solutions, acquisition and maintenance of the application software, evaluation of development  and maintenance procedures, support management changes, evaluation of accredit systems that have been  installed and evaluating  the acquired technology infrastructure.

The third governance model is delivery and support that is concerned with the IT service delivery. Activities involved in this model include training, support and security. The role of auditor in this particular model is to assess, evaluate and to ensure strong security of systems is maintained. The process and role of auditor in this case includes
Evaluation or assessment of mangers service level
Management of third party services
Manage the performance and capacity of business leaders
Ensuring that there is continuous service evaluation
Evaluate systems security through support strategies
Identification of education and training  costs through evaluation methods
Provide assistance to customers through evaluation of advise techniques
Management of data, facilities, operations, problems and incidents.

The fourth governance model that is used with other business strategies in IT auditing is monitoring. All business operations need a much supervision and assessment through monitoring. The assessment is done to ensure that business entity complies with particular control requirements so as to achieve business objectives. The auditor in this case is responsible for providing the full support of business activities. The IT auditor is concerned with performance of various measurement policies that were established through strategic plans. The auditor is supposed to compare the established parameters with achievement factors that have been set. In addition, the auditor should compare success factors against outcomes that are related to the stakeholders expectations. This domain requires the auditor to monitor certain processes, provide independent audit, access internal control adequacy and support independent assurance assessment. The role of the auditor is to build a strong IT governance business environment that is aligned with the business objectives and that satisfies the stakeholders needs.

The role of the project management in any research paper or business entity is to review the steps involved in planning, controlling and organizing. It is a way of building up a good schedule that helps to measure the success or failure of business entity. Project management evaluates policies that help to execute the planning process, the estimation of project costs, builds strong team work, establishes stages of risk management and helps in management of project interface. The critical application of research procedures of IT auditing and governance in project management has led to achievement of business objectives. This is a clear prove that social science is critical in its object and understanding of social phenomena is very crucial in any research.