He found this to be a necessity, order for him to speak universal truths and express his own genius and be believable to others. Emerson felt that nothing in this world can bring one peace but one’s self and that only the triumph of principles can bring one peace. These last two lines from “Self Reliance” essay represent Emerson’s individualistic concepts (Ralph 4). Emerson values the equal individual that is in touch with their universal genius. Fredrick Douglass is evidence of discovering his own brilliance and universal truths.
Hence why, natural laws such as gravity and motion assist in forming the basis for the cause and effect that fills the discussion of hard determinism. However, James Lovelock argued that according to GAIA theory the world changes, adapts and amends itself in order to survive and the human race is of little significance. Humans do not control nature, nature is in control. Philosophical determinism, like all forms of hard determinism, is based on the theory of Universal Causation. This is the belief that everything in the universe including all human actions and choices has a cause.
All men are free and equal. They have rights that are inherent in human nature, rights to life, health, liberty, and property, a right of self preservation and a right to enforce the law of nature. In chapter II § 4, we read: “To understand political power right and derive it from its original, we must consider what state all men are naturally in and that is a state of perfect freedom [….] also of equality”. And in §6 he states: “The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life,
The humanistic approach has been praised for its great emphasis on autonomy, the idea that we have control over everything we do. The approach also emphasises positivity and is immensely positive about human nature. Therefore it is no surprise that one of the main assumptions of humanism is that we are involved in life as opposed to being an abstraction to it. Humanistic psychologists also believe that all people have a strive towards self actualisation, a state in which we are at peace with the world and ourselves. Maslow presented the idea of the hierarchy of needs, a table that describes how one passes through stages in their life to become self actualised.
Furthermore, Natural Moral Law is absolute in its nature because it allows no exceptions to its rules and can be applied universally. Aristotle believed ultimate happiness (known as eudemonia in Ancient Greece) to be the aim of life, Aquinas developed this idea though, claiming this was achieved through eternal fellowship with God and ‘beatific vision’. He postulated that the application of Natural Moral Law in our lives was the way in which we could achieve this ultimate goal of ultimate happiness. Aquinas identified four laws by which humans live; his general definition of law is “a rule put into place by one who has care of the community”. The lowest level of law, according to Aquinas is human law; the law created by us and abided by in everyday life in order to from a recognisable structure in society.
Jefferson says, “We hold these truths to be self-evidence, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson, 80). He states how having these natural rights mean happiness to the citizens. We were created to use our ability to reach what we desire happiness should be. In “The Aim of Man” Aristotle has his own views when it comes to material and spiritual happiness. Aristotle argues that material is what an object consist of and this matter we could not live without.
The three distinct Enlightenment ideas I picked to express in this document were: 1. “The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression”. This idea plays a vital role in the societal vision of this declaration due to its direct collaboration with it. The sole thesis of the declaration is the importance of man’s rights.
Houser 2 Secondly, each person is given a conscious and therefore the power to believe or not believe in any God or religion. The Universe is infinite in capacity and is only cut short if one believes it is or tries to cut it. However, a man is connected to the Universe as is Nature and God. “The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.” Emerson writes how the Universe is not just one thing. It is made up of many smaller objects and together these
However, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it”. (Preamble of the Declaration of Independence). Thoreau also had a side to his argument that sometimes people must take their liberation into their own hands and must utilize their right to peaceful protest. Thus justifying (and explaining) Thoreau’s not-so-subtle hint at civil disobedience, which the reader would be wise to notice, was the avenue that Mr. Thoreau himself chose to explore.
For what are our faculties but the extension of our faculties but the extension of our individuality?And what is prop and what property but extensions of our faculties? { The Law,page 6}.The early pioneers had the right to defend even by force his person, his liberty and his property. Then it follows that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common force to protect these rights constantly. Thus the principle of collective rights- its reason for existing , its law fullness- is based on individual right{The Law page 6}. For nobody can transfer to another more power than he has in himself, and nobody has an absolute arbitrary power over himself, or over any other, to destroy his own life, or take away the life or property of, another”{Two Treaties of Cival Government ,