The Obsession of Personal Autonomy: Is the American fixation of individual freedom a good idea? Or do other cultures around the world know how to make good decisions based on their beliefs? Americans are known around the world for being culturally obsessed with idea of choice. As Americans in our culture we practice our right of self-expression and personal choice in many ways throughout life. From the simple act of deciding what kind of profession we want to pursue for the rest of our lives to the decision of what kind of dress we want to wear on a date. To some it is almost oblivious to say that as a society we do not take the freedom of deciding on our actions as a privilege but instead take it for granted. Renata Salecl a philosopher …show more content…
The choices we make are influenced by how we live and how we see society. It is crucial to respect the culture of others. It is unjustifiable to judge another culture on their decision of choices. Sheena Iyengar a psycho-economist states in her presentation that after doing an immense amount of research on how we make choices she came to the conclusion that they are primarily made based off our cultural background and our cultural lenses. Just because we like to drink our tea with sugar does not give us the preference in another country such as Japan to drink tea with sugar. We must be aware of our cultural differences and learn how to respect the fact that it is not just American lenses that we must see out of. Be open minded make better decisions based on different cultures and their customs (“The Art of Choosing”). Our choices in a different country or in a public setting should be respectful to that of other cultures. America is diverse and known as the land of the free. Just because we have the right to make certain choices does not mean that other countries do as well. We must take into consideration what our actions and words can do to certain individuals. On the other hand, we are raised in a certain way in which we shall not limit ourselves to the expense of others. It does not make us ignorant as a culture we are just raised in a different …show more content…
Choi argues that it has become an obsession to many Americans. Renata who believes that the freedom of choice is selfish and ignorant and should be taken less seriously and that we should become more social thinkers. The choice is up to us to decide how we want to make our decisions in life. It is an utmost privilege to be able to make personal decisions. As well as, making many mistakes because at the end of the day we are able to tell narratives about our choices and learn from them. Not many have the freedom that we do. So when you make your choices whether it may be personal, social, or preferable do not forget to live them. The right of choice is highly valuable and should not be taken for granted because it is the freedom to follow our
choose, the freedom to choose. We also have to take the responsibility of our choices. We
Life is filled with difficult situations and tough choices to make. The question is, should we choose to make them ourselves? Some people feel it's best to do things alone, while others do not. For example, most of the characters in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare that are analyzed in the text, “What’s the Rush?: Young Brains Cause Doomed Love” by Lexi Tucker, do not consider other’s opinions at all. However, the opinions of people who love us positively affect our choices so it would be smart to consider them in most cases, but not in those that are very personal.
All the decisions are already made for them, therefore, to prevent any conflicts but it also eliminates what makes the person special. The author demonstrates the theme, by illustrating the fact how nobody within the community has any past memory of history, impacting the was they think and act. In the book, Lowery illustrates,“If everything's the same, then they aren’t any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things. A blue tunic or a red one?” He looked down at himself, at the colorless fabric of his clothing. But it’s all the same. Always” (pg 62). This quote develops that even the smallest of decisions, can’t be made within the community. People are defined by what choices they make in life. Taking that freedom away, is taking their humanity
his own life how he wishes, even if it will damage health or lead to
When we critic something to be wicked or upright, better or worse than something else, we are taking it as an example to aim at or avoid. Without ideas like this, we would have no structure of comparison for our own strategies, no chance of earning by other’s insights or faults. In this space, we could form no decisions on our own actions. If we admit something as a good fact about one culture, we can’t reject to apply it to other cultures as well, whatever conditions acknowledge it. If we reject to do this, we are just not taking the other’s culture beliefs
Daniel Challahan attempts to argue that Euthanasia is always seriously morally wrong in his article, “When Self-Determination Runs Amok.” Callahan discusses several reasons depicting why he believes that Euthanasia is morally impermissible. John Lachs, however, does not see validity in several of Callahan’s points and responds to them in his article, “When Abstract Moralizing Runs Amok.” Two points from Callahan’s article Lachs challenges are the fundamental moral wrong view and the subjectiveness of suffering.
“Individualistic cultures, in the western-hemisphere, [such as the United States,] emphasize… personal identity and self-determination. Conformity is far less pervasive in individualistic societies because democratic choices and laissez-faire viewpoints are somewhat considered.”
as our upbringing and culture, so our choice is not one of our own but
“It would not matter for a new child's toy. But later it does matter, doesn’t it? We do not dare to let people make their own. Not safe, the Giver suggested. Definitely not safe, Jonas said with certainty. What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And chose wrong?”(98) Rather, a person is free when they make their own decisions for themselves. When a person has freedom and make their own choices may they make mistakes, but from the mistake that person will grow into a better individual. “And here in this room, all alone, I re-experience them again and again. It is how wisdom comes. And how we shape our future.”(78) So, personal choice allows a person live the way they want by choosing what they think is best for them. Personal choice allows a person to have freedom which helps them to live a true and happy life with their own eyes. Lastly, personal choice is important because it lets people have freedom, to choose for themselves and live the way they want to live.
Humans live in a world in which every day they encounter numerous choices. The way they decide and the outcomes of their decisions define their lives. Their day to day life essentially revolves around the choices they make. As a whole, a community benefits or suffers from the outcomes of its choices. Freedom of choice is the grant to an individual or community to make its own choices out of free will and without restrictions (Pereboom,2003). This is essay will discuss that though freedom choice leads to variety in life, it does not necessarily guarantee satisfaction. It will also argue that although some choice is undoubtedly better than none, more is not always better than less. It will then consider the implications of the paradox of choice for individuals in the market place and education, and for society in politics.
Living in a diverse world should be something a person should be proud of. Getting to know a person’s culture and their beliefs should be a wonderful ability. Respecting one another is important, even though a lot of people still disregard that, which should discontinue. We should all start to learn how to make this world a better place,
In explaining Cultural Relativism, it is useful to compare and contrast it with Ethical Relativism. Cultural Relativism is a theory about morality focused on the concept that matters of custom and ethics are not universal in nature but rather are culture specific. Each culture evolves its own unique moral code, separate and apart from any other. Ethical Relativism is also a theory of morality with a view of ethics similarly engaged in understanding how morality comes to be culturally defined. However, the formulation is quite different in that from a wide range of human habits, individual opinions drive the culture toward distinguishing normal “good” habits from abnormal “bad” habits.
Furthermore, lack of Cultural sensitivity occurs when people generalize the idea that “we are more the same than different” or that a common culture is shared by all races, religious groups, or ethnic groups. Not p...
I believe that one of the major reasons freedom is so desirable is because many the limitations on freedom are disallowing us the right to have control over our own bodies. Controlling our bodies is the only thing that we actually have power over. A large number of the prohibited freedoms are crimes were you make your self the victim. Such as using drugs, prostitution, suicide, vagrancy, minor in possession, dodging the draft, entering the country illegally, and age limits on the purchase of pornographic materials. All of these crimes are punishable under the law. What puts these apart from most crimes is that you choose to victimize yourself (except sometimes in the case of prostitution if they are being forced to prostitute against there own will). What people choose to do to them selves, in my opinion, is the least of our worries as a country. The last thing the government should have control over is what you choose to do to yourself. As long as you are not directly harming anyone else in the process, the government should not waste their time and money on something that is so trivial in comparison to crimes involving a victim. In general, people do not agree with the government controlling...