From this mastery, Aristotle contends, a man will derive pleasure. This mastery does not only benefit the individual, but will also benefit society, and therefore is morally virtuous. In contrast, Epicurus’ ideals promote the pursuit of pleasure whether knowledge is attained or not. This philosophy is potentially hazardous because the individual’s pursuit of pleasure can result in harm to himself and his surroundings, classifying it as morally unsound. Epicurus fails to define the boundaries of moral virtue, merely stating there could be harmful consequences without specific definition, Epicurus ultimately fails to develop a strong moral program.
Meaning that the authority that was elected by the society had to be beneficial to the society; as well as the right and wrong actions depended on the effect that these actions had on the unhappiness and happiness of an individual. The Enlightenment was also based on logic and humaneness was coming in to the picture. First of all, Baccaria’s saw torture as inadequate criminal justice procedures, since torture was adopted as a common technique to determine whether an individual was guilty or innocent through use of pain. This in Baccaria’s eyes is deemed as useless. Since the tortured party can be proven guilty or innocent based on their pain tolerance, if an individual who has committed a crime and is being tortured however their pain tolerance is very high and they are able to take the pain they may be judged as innocent, however if and individual is innocent or guilty has a low pain tolerance and is not able to cope with the pain and confesses then it no longer matters whether he committed the crime or not, thus making
In order to simplify justice and prove that it is indeed better than injustice, Socrates moves from describing justice in the individual to the city. We can see the creation of justice and its place in society as Socrates builds his ideal Republic from ground up. A polis that contains the cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, temperance and justice is held together as one. Everyone must work collectively in order for the polis to operate correctly. The rulers must act with wisdom, the guardians with courage, and the polis with temperance.
and the very fact that we are able to feel guilt tells us that we are human... tells us that that we are a caring person... because if we felt no guilt, then that would mean that we did not care... and it is only the person who does not care that should feel guilt... and yet it is only the person who cares. Who genuinely cares, that does fell guilt... so now it's time for you to be just a little kinder to yourself... to accept that the guilt you have been feeling is the subconscious mind's way of letting you punish yourself for things you feel you may have done wrong... but there is always a limit to the amount of punishment that is needed for any wrong doing... every caring person knows that... and when that limit has been reached, there is no just need or cause for that punishment to continue... and a caring person finds it easy to forgive people their mistakes... so you can now forgive yourself... just as you would forgive others for their errors, their mistakes... because those things you feel you may have done wrong were errors... just mistakes... so there is no need now for your for further punishment... most of the time, nearly all of the time, you don't make these errors... nearly all the
In fact, according to Kant, a person who hates helping others but does so anyways because they see it as their societal duty is a good moral agent. On the other hand, a person who enjoys helping others because it brings them joy would be considered selfish and without any moral content. How can this make sense? Hume would argue that it is the passion to help those that are less fortunate that motivates the individual rather than the actual act. In general, the action is produced by a passion to do something, spurred on by feelings of guilt or perhaps philanthropy.
It is believed that the people who create injustice are not naturally good, because they have the power to be just, and the people who suffer injustice can not dole out injustice because they do not have the power to be just. The people believed that to impose injustice is naturally good and to suffer injustice bad. But the wickedness of suffering it far exceeds the righteousness of imposing it. This means that they who have impose and suffered injustice, who have tasted both, are ones who lack the power to do it and avoid suffering it. They are the ones who decide that it is profitable to come to an agreement with each other to neither create injustice or to
Socrates believed that people should evaluate their lives and become ethically responsible. He often considered people should not seek money or power but to become morale correct in society. One of Machiavelli’s famous quote: “It is better to be feared than loved.” He believed that leaders should do anything necessary to gain and maintain power. How can two people with opposite moral have the same ethical beliefs? Socrates and Machiavelli were both humanist philosophers.
In The Republic, Glaucon Plato’s brother plays the “devil’s advocate” and claims that being “immoral” is more beneficial than being “moral”. He argues this by saying that doing wrong is good, and that when people chose to not do wrong is only out of fear of having wrong done to them (358e); if there were no consequences to immoral action, everyone would behave in the same manner. For example: if you needed money to feed your child and you can walk into a bank and steal all the money you need without being caught and punished for it, why wouldn’t you? To better make his point, Glaucon tells Plato the allegory of the shepherd Gyges of Lydia who discovers a ring that makes him invisible. With the help of the ring, Gyges manages to become a delegate to the king, seduces the queen and with her help kills the king and takes control of the kingdom (360a-b).
It is unsurprising that Bentham came up with this ideal as he is a hedonist which means that he pushes himself into finding pleasure. Act Utilitarianism can be explained into three parts. The first is the motivation of human beings. Bentham concludes that human beings are motivated by pleasure and thus want to avoid pain which henceforth affects our choice of action. An example of this could be avoiding to do work because free time brings pleasure but doing work causes boredom which then causes pain.
Unlike ethical subjectivism which is when people act on what feels good or what they believe is right for them. For example, not studying for an exam to go out with friends might be what a student wants to do but it is not in his or her best interest. Hedonism is similar to ethical egoism but like ethical subjectivism, is uses pleasure as a means of value. Hedonism is the belief that pleasure is a person’s best self-interests. Also, ethical egoism is not the same as egotism.