Mill believed it was extremely important that an indivduals free will should not be crushed by society. Mill believed indivduality is what it is to be human and anything that takes away your indivuduality is wrong. Mill state in his book On Liberty “Whatever crushes indivduality is despotism.” Despostism is the idea of dictatorship so Mill is saying that anything that stops our indivduality for example religion is controlling us and not allowing us to be free, which is wrong. Althought we are free we must consider others, this means that we can use our freedom however we must make sure we are not spoiling the freedom of others. This is supported by Paul Kurtz who states humans have the right “to satisfy their tastes” but however they shold not “impose their values on others.” For example you may want to murder someone with your free will however if you go ahead and commit the crime you are negatively effecting others in society and this is wrong.
Moore and WD Ross a fellow intuitionist agreed that pleasure, knowledge and virtue are all intrinsically good, and pain, ignorance and vice are intrinsically bad. However, they disagreed about our basic moral duties. Unlike Intuitionism, Emotivism does not purport the existence of objective moral facts, truths or duties. Instead it takes
First proposition I will be discussing is “ one thing is intristically good, namely love; nothing else” only good is good, in and of itself. Actions aren’t intristicaly good or evil, depending on whether they promote the most loving result. Fletcher said that actions are extrinsically good depending on the conseuences or circumstances. Natural law states that actions such as lying are always wrong regardless of the circumstances, but according to fletchers first principles actions such as lying can be justified if the outcome is extrinsically good. The second fundamental priniple is “the ruling norm of a christian decision is love; nothing else”.
It implies that to truly live life, one must seek simplicity, harmony with nature, and to follow one’s own path. Thoreau strongly believes and advocates that those who live lives of luxury and in mainstream culture created by the Industrial Revolution aren’t really living. He believes this illusion of progress impedes man’s spiritual transcendence, true happiness, and understanding of the essential facts of life. Thoreau’s advice encourages one to rid of superfluous possessions and social activities so as to lead as simple and "bare bones" a life as possible. The advice explains that “life near the bone is sweetest.” The simple life (i.e.
It is said that Lao-tzu wrote the Tao-te as a political guide for those who created the power structure and maintained the order of the land. In doing so he gave advice, rather than setting rules. He believed that the government should play a smaller role in the day to day lives of their citizens. Meaning, instead of watching over every person with an iron fist, allow them to show the natural good in themselves. Lao-tzu was a firm believer that playing a bigger role will ruin the balance of tranquility.
Taoism is the one I like least. It has too many vague mystical elements. It seems to me that both Buddhism and Taoism are inward looking, seeking enlightenment and self-improvement as the ultimate goal, with correct interactions with others serving as a means to achieving this self-fulfillment. But Confucianism is the opposite. It is outward looking, with the goal being to create a society of peace and justice, with self-improvement of individuals being the means to achieving that end.
And here again, we see that if people listen to their conscience, and not to what society want them to believe is good, there will be some beneficial changes. In Civil disobedience, the author proved again that morality, as well as conscience plays an important role. Thoreau argued “It has been truly said, that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience." By this, he too wanted to show that individual can take actions at any time without been influenced because of their own conscience of what is good or bad. By voicing out his conscience, individual will proved his uniqueness.
“We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”, Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of civility and peace. Dr. King had a dream of changing the world, even if he didn’t have all mankind to back him up. He strongly believed in his moral beliefs, that all men are created equal. Martin was big on civility. He refused to accept the laws that he thought were unjust.
It explains where our selfish habits come from. Suffering is caused by cravings. Buddhist doctrine does not teach that all things people desire for are wrong. The word craving in Sanskrit is translated as “trsna” which does not include the all desires, it only includes the desires and addictions that create a negative impact on life. The Buddha gave the example of a fire when he taught of the Second Noble Truth, because craving spreads, just as fire does, from one thing to another without ever being satisfied.
To protect their new freedom from tyranny, the colonists decided to separate powers. The Declaration of Independence is timeless because it serves as a guide for new nations to form under democracy. The document describes the limitations of government and what happens when a government tries to move beyond what it can control. The Declaration of Independence e was written to rally support for the revolution from other countries and to spread the new view upon democracy. The document guides countries who are being suppressed to move towards revolution even today.