Applying the Virtues
Prudence:
As previously discussed, prudence is the mother and mold of all virtues. Because Oscar did not exercise prudence in the film, he also failed to exercise any of the other virtues. Oscar failed to exercise prudence as he did not have docilitas nor solertia. He did not have docilitas as he failed to listen to the advice that his best friend Angie was giving him. Angie found Lenny hiding in the garage and discovered that Oscar was not telling the truth. She advised him to come clean to the public and stop living in a lie just for the sake of living a luxurious life. Similarly, Oscar did not have solertia as he failed to look at the situation clearly. His vision was clouded by his disordered value system, and as a result he was placing emphasis on all of the wrong things.
Oscar, in fact, exercised both false prudence and imprudence. For example, Oscar exercised fake prudence when he staged the event where he “slayed” Lenny. He believed that he was acting carefully as he was trying to save himself and the image that he had created, however he was not acting prudently as this carefulness was being implemented in a corrupt manner. Similarly, Oscar acted imprudently, particularly due to his agitatedness and thoughtlessness. He was agitated in the sense that he was scared that the sharks were seeking revenge and were going to kill him. He therefore made the imprudent decision to “slay” another shark. Oscar was also thoughtless: he failed to think on the situation and realize the potential consequences of taking credit for killing a shark.
As previously stated, the end of the film shows Oscar with a new, more virtuous life that is more suited to his eudaimon. In order to stay on this path, Oscar will have ...
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...d to practice what Pieper refers to as “selfless self-preservation”. This was a particularly due to his incontinence (inability to resist) and preoccupation with ‘pleasurable’ things.
Hope:
The movie Shark Tale also effectively demonstrates the difference between natural and theological hope. Oscar, of course, had “natural hope” of receiving all of the “good” things that life had to offer. He hoped to become rich, to become famous, to be “a somebody” and to live at the top of the reef. This hope, however, is far from theological, virtuous hope which is “a steadfast turning toward… the good”. Oscar does not hope to be a good, virtuous person and is not focused on his telos – that is, not until he begins to practice prudence, courage and temperance to turn his life around. In doing so, he recognizes his magnanimity and begins working towards a great and noble life.
What is the director ultimately saying about the ways in which hope affects the individual?
In Oscar’s voyage in search of passionate love, he continually falls under the deadly, friend zone or as it’s u...
Oscar struggles to find out who he is, he is a dark skinned, overweight, nerdy guy. He is plagued with the trying to live up the reputation of being a Dominican man. The men in his family encourage Oscar to be dominant, sexual, and masculine. Oscar does not have those characteristic and leads others to assume he is not Dominican. Rafael Trujillo, as we learned in class, was one of the harshest dictators in the country. During his rule, he was responsible for around 50 thousand deaths (Class notes, Dominicans), The legacy of Rafael Trujillo, plagued Dominican men for years after his death. Latino
Within The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde depicts two characters that follow the philosophy of Walter Pater. These two characters are Dorian Gray and Henry Wotton. They both embody Pater’s ideal of placing as much enjoyment in one’s short life as possible. While Dorian learns of Pater’s philosophy from Henry he soon exceeds his teacher and becomes invested within the philosophy of living life to the fullest. Dorian exceeds Henry in Pater’s philosophy through his active experimentation and desire for beauty, but Dorian fails to live up to all of Pater’s expectations due to his inability to separate morality for art.
attempts to remain a human. He didn't want to see that he, in fact, was
However, three ethical decisions that this learning will make after viewing the film is to always assist individual to the best of your ability, despite personal issues with loved ones or friends; next, always report crimes, no matter the consequence they may have; and last but not least, stand up for what’s right, even if it leads to misfortune. The pros of each of these decisions is peace within yourself. However, one of the cons is dealing with negative pressures. For example, when you report a crime, you may be summoned to court, and have to deal with the negative criticism.
Oscar was your average kid, energetic, silly, and some could even say stupid. He was your average Dominican casanova. This was Oscar, well at least until high school, in high school everything changed for Oscar, suddenly girls hated Oscar, his obsession with
Since assignment 5 offered our insights of whether or not the two of out of three trilogy films were deemed as good cinema, it is only natural that the third and final film to complete the trilogy falls in that direction as well. “Taken as a whole- which is the only way the three, closely intertwined episodes should be taken- the trilogy charts a movement from a deep sense of...
“Hope is defined as the action of wishing or desiring that something will occur.” Hope helps people move forward in life to see what’s coming next for them. For example, “I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support” (Wiesel, “Night”.) This quote explains the effects of hope in a pitiful situation. Eliezer Wiesel and his father were torn apart, mentally and physically from everything they
According to Morrison and Furlong, normative ethics discovers what is right and wrong and guides decision making for all situations in many areas including health care. A normative ethical theory that this research will discuss is virtue ethics in the American health care system. The purpose of this research is to develop potential for excellence and to find the highest good for humans by doing what is right short-term, long-term, and to compete globally (Morrison & Furlong, 2013). Giving certain situations each theory can provide tools to assist in decision-making but virtue ethics concentrates on excellence and perfection.
...e two professors Oscar most wanted to meet while he was at Oxford. His professors had a tremendous impact on the developing perspective he had in his writing and inspired Oscar to participate in the aesthetic movement “an artistic and literary movement of the late 19th century based on the motto was ‘art for art's sake’ and arguing that art was not to be utilitarian or practical”(dictionary.com).The clothes he wore were lavish, his manners were stylized, and he grew out his long, wavy hair. His dandyism showed his contribution to aestheticism as he rebelled against the moralistic ways of his time.
Wilde seems to be arguing that beautiful things can only remain pure and beautiful without being corrupted with wisdom or intellect. Lord Henry is an interesting character in the novel because he seems to preach what he thinks is moral and just, yet he does not himself live by the very words and advices he speaks. Basil himself accuses Lord Henry by stating, “You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing. Your cynicism is simply a pose” (Wilde 7). In return Lord Henry admits and argues, “If one puts forward an idea to a true Englishman he never dreams of considering whether an idea is right or wrong. The only thing he considers of any importance is whether one believes it one’s self” (Wilde 11). Yet, Dorian Gray seems to be listen very strongly to the advice Lord Henry gives him and immediately becomes concerned about his aging beauty. Gray is jealous of the future of lasting youth the portrait will obtain, and pleads for his portrait to instead bear the wrinkles of old age and sin. Thus, begins the road in which Dorian Gray’s sins are casted onto the portrait, and with the ill advice of Lord Henry he certainly goes down a road of sin and
No decision procedure – moral decision making is too complicated to have a single criterion for decision
This week's reading really clarified something that I think I overlooked as I did last week's reading on consequentialist. As I stated in my last reflection paper I really agreed with some of the points the textbook mention about Kant’s ethics. Although I agreed with some of those points I did not agree with all of them. I like the idea of naturally knowing what the right things is and naturally doing it not because someone told you once that you should do it, but simply because you just feel like it is the right thing to do. For example, there was a scenario in the reading about a woman named Helen who was a practitioner of virtue ethics. Basically, she witnessed someone lie and she instantly knew that he was a liar, not because she follows
the right way to go. Aristotle says that virtues are something that we