Nowhere Man Essay

304 Words2 Pages
Writing Assignment 1 Jean Kazez states that having “unity or continuity” to one’s life is intrinsically good. He supports this statement by giving an example of “Nowhere Man”. This is the type of person who has conflicting interests. “Nowhere Man” may be interested in the Oil industry one week and then work for green peace the next. He may be an advocate for communism and then switch over to rallies for democracy. The problem with “Nowhere Man”, Kazez states, is that it signifies an underlying weak self, without a purpose for doing the things you do. In order to have a happy and good life, Kazez argues you need to have strong convictions and consistent reasoning for why you do something. Mill would disagree with Kazez, he supports the greatest happiness principle, which states that “actions are morally right insofar as they produce happiness, wrong insofar as they produce suffering.” I agree with Mill, I think if someone wants to be an oil lobbyist one week, and decides he wants to see how the other side is and advocate green peace, that they should be able to do so as long as they get pleasure from it. If one was to agree with Kazez, even though it may be an extreme example, one could look at the life of a dictator such as Stalin or Hitler. Hitler was a man of strong conviction; he was one of the best leaders the world has seen. He was able to unite millions of people to follow his cause. However, his convictions caused pain and suffering throughout the world, millions of people lost their lives because of him. The example of Hitler’s life would offer strong support for Mill’s argument for the General Happiness Principle, while at the same time showing why Kazez argument is
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