Aristotle rightly said that the family is the building block of the society and each family has its common values and preferences. Even though individuals may belong to the same family and society, they would have diverse opinions on what the society should be and where it should be headed. Even in the face of shared values by a society, there is another discriminant of individual’s value systems- their experiences. These experiences make them masters of themselves because they assume that their experiences are unique to only them and therefore these views should be recognized as valid. James O’Toole categorised the value systems of individuals under the four major themes of community, efficiency, liberty and equality (O'Toole, 1995). This paper reflects on the good society and its constituents in the light of these four themes. O’Toole believes these four are the great themes of political argument which face trade-offs with each other and have an inverse relationship with each other, that is, an increase in one causes a decrease of the other. Thomas Jefferson considered the good society to be a society in which everyone was happy and I agree with that because happiness is the end product of various favourable factors in a person’s life. Furthermore, I am of the same view that a good society is one that ensures the rights of every member of the society. This is because every human being is innately self-seeking and this is evident in a child’s selfish efforts to attain his or her wants in spite of being young in knowledge of the society. Even though humans can be selfless, their basic needs should at least be met because the satisfaction of their needs sustain them and ensures their contentment. To ensure basic rights of individuals, it is essential to know which value they hold dear, whose fulfilment would bring them long lasting pleasure, thus, leading into the exploration of these major core values. Liberty is concerned with freedom of the individual in three spheres, which are in politics, religion and economics and this value births individuals who are known as libertarians. The modern Libertarian principle that these individuals operate by is that “the equal right to freedom constitutes the full extent of human equality; all other equalities are unwarranted and unjust” (O'Toole, 1995). Thus, libertarians support every kind of liberty which includes economic liberty hence, capitalism. As such they believe that government interventions in the free market stifle economic progress.
...n abundant amount of goods and never depriving their own. In a way, it is similar to my definition in certain aspects because these values that Jefferson believed in are the foundation to pursuing your true happiness.
Society’s focus on perfection, the impact of an individual’s loyalty and fulfillment can change them to be hurt and disappointed .Such as being created to the standards of a perfect society, born from a factory and conditioned... Leaving out the rights and sentiment of the people is not needed to fabricate a thriving and productive society. “That is the secret of happiness and virt...
You are all probably thinking, how can we attain happiness for ourselves and the state? The answer lies in virtue. In particular, "human good turns out to be activity of the soul in accordance with virtue," (Aristotle, Ethics Book I). While some may think wealth is the final end, i...
Guided by his fervent and unwavering commitment to reason and the principles of natural law and natural rights, Thomas Jefferson crafted his own unique political and social vision for the United States of America which, excluding a few notable omissions, has survived to become an important contribution to the cornerstone of American democracy. His vision was of an agrarian and populist nation of citizens with access to general and widespread education, whose rulers are chosen on grounds of their individual merits and talents rather than on basis of birth and inheritance, and governed by a decentralized system of government, whose main duty is to safeguard the unalienable natural rights and freedom of the individual, and the general well-being and happiness of the citizen, as well as the unimpeded enforcement of the general will of society at large. This vision is the result and culmination of his personal beliefs on the topics of universal liberty and political philosophy, weighed and viewed through the discerning and logical lens of reason.
It upholds freedom as its principal objective. Libertarians seek to maximize independence, freedom of choice and also emphasizing constitutional freedom. In order for humans to make their choices freely, morality has to be involved. In the sense that humans can be able to understand the choices they make, the effects the choices they make may have and whether it is good or evil. This is quite easy to understand and I believe that we all have free-will to do whatever we want at whatever time we want to because human behavior is the result of the decisions based on free-will rather than the results of deterministic influences.
In the words of the Libertarian Party of Canada, Libertarians want “less government, lower taxes, more freedom”. Freedom is used as a broad term, implying a quest for freedom of information as well as individual freedom as citizens. Libertarians have some interesting views on media ownership and copyright laws. They believe in freedom of information for all, small government, and are generally anti-monopoly. Spreading information and power between citizens is the only sure way to benefit the whole world. Concentrated power will be used only to benefit those in power, so if power was given to the people, laws could benefit the people instead of the elite. Libertarians are seemingly conflicted over the idea of intellectual property. If someone makes something clever and unique that they worked on for years, they should have ownership of it, but since that...
Libertarianism is simply a form of incompatibility that believe people have free will. While libertarian believe in free will they do not believe in determinism. A deeper meaning is the idea that we have choices between alternate futures. This mean we can choice which path we will follow by our will. Our well is not determined beforehand. Libertarianism in separate in three different kinds. Each of the different kind of libertarianism different in the way they believe in free will. The idea of free well is not a simply things to explain nor is Libertarianism. An example of this is the reason why if an action is not determine, then it not enough for it to be free. He reason is that because there is a reason why action
In the early 1800s Thomas Jefferson envisioned American society as a nation of independent farmers living under the central government that exercised a minimum control over their rights and protected individual rights of the people gr...
The Power of the Market by Milton and Rose Friedman is about central economic planning and the relationship between the government and its role in the economy. Economic freedom “and essential part of economic freedom is freedom to choose how to use our income: how much to spend on ourselves and on what items; how much to save and in what form; how much to give away and to whom.” “Currently, more than 40 percent of our income is disposed of on our behalf by government at federal, state, and local levels combined.” Is that really freedom? In reality there is no economic freedom, the government controls it. They have their hands in almost everyway possible to make money off of every American. We are nothing but “customers” who work hard to survive while the government has their hands in our pocket every step of the way.
"Africa Before Transatlantic Slavery: The Abolition of Slavery Project." Africa Before Transatlantic Slavery: The Abolition of Slavery Project. E2BN, 2009. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. .
As one ponders on how to live a good life, many ideas come to mind. Whether this may be wealth, family, or beauty, the early philosopher’s theories need to be taken into consideration. Those early philosophers include Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and The Epicureans. These four committed their lives towards bettering life, and are the basis of most philosophical theories. It is evident that these four need to be read, understood, and discussed to better understand one’s life. They always pondered on the thought of how to have a perfect life and society. When one makes their own theory, based upon these early philosophers, not only do they need to establish a strong belief system, it is required to practice this too. Plato had the most basic of theories, being that only virtue was needed in life to be happy and nothing else. For Aristotle, he used Plato’s foundation and added that external goods, such as wealth, respect, friends, and beauty were all necessary. Without one of these, Aristotle believes that one cannot live a happy life. For the Stoics, they settled on a balanced approached between virtue and external goods, saying that virtue is necessary, yet external goods are preferred too. The Epicureans largely argue the Stoics view, and present that pleasure (tranquility) is the goal of every life, but virtues and friends are required for this. Each theory has many critics, even with Aristotle being a critic of his own theory. None seems perfect, yet all fit today’s modern society. I found that I agree with the Stoics theory the most, and find that any external good is fine as long as virtue is the basis of that person’s life.
Today, more than ever, there is great debate over politics and which economic system works the best. How needs and wants should be allocated, and who should do the allocating, is one of the most highly debated topics in our current society. Be it communist dictators defending a command economy, free market conservatives defending a market economy, or European liberals defending socialism, everyone has an opinion. While all systems have flaws and merits, it must be decided which system is the best for all citizens. When looking at both the financial well being of all citizens, it is clear that market economies fall short on ensuring that the basic needs of all citizens are met. If one looks at liberty and individual freedom, it is evident that command economies tend to oppress their citizens. Therefore, socialism, which allows for basic needs to be met and personal freedoms to be upheld, is the best economic system for all of a country’s citizens.
Aristotle believes the only way to reach a state of happiness is through virtue. The virtue that is to be practiced is meant to guide our behaviors in society and to learn the meaning of moderation. Aristotle deems human happiness as more then attaining the pleasures of life but satisfying the human potentialities. Reaching such abilities could be seen by making logical choices and being able to choose the needs in life rather then the wants. At this point it shows that Aristotle contends that a society that includes citizens that he believes are of human excellence will reflect the same values upon it’s state.
Ghana is a country located on the west coast of Africa; Africa is a resource rich continent that supplies much of the world with diamonds, oils, petroleum and more through trade. The country of Ghana has undergone revision in their labor forces in the past twenty years, Ghana has moved more from the traditional labor sector like agriculture to more modern sectors. One of the more modern sectors of Ghana today is the industrial sector which is relatively small and is mainly operated by the Ghanaian government. The industrial sector was expanded by the government and president to employ the unemployed and promote investment in the private sector. After the 1990’s Ghana has seen consistent economic growth but their economic growth from the last eight years has increased tremendously. In the most recent of years ( after 2004) the growth rate of Ghana started to accelerate and it increased to over six percent between a five year span from 2005-2010, with the average being above seven percent in 2000 and 2009. The increase in sectors has taken Ghana from a poverty rate of more than half 51.7% to 28.5% by the year 2005. Before Ghana’s independence on March 6, 1957 most of the country’s gdp was contributed to agriculture and the industry sector was less of a contributor. Recently, between the years of 2001-2010 the roles of whom or what contributes to the gdp has switched. Most of the contribution to the gdp is that of the service sector. Even though, the service sector has risen to the top of the economy, agriculture is slowly but surely is rising back to the top of Ghana’s highest gdp contributor by the way of nontraditional exports like automobiles and cocoa. The service sector of Ghana provides many residents w...
Ghana: The Gold Coast of Africa The Gold Coast, now known as Ghana, is one of many civilizations of Africa. It was a British Colony until March 6, 1957, when it became independent as the State of Ghana. In 1471, the Portuguese invaded this area and became involved in gold trade, giving the region the name, The Gold Coast.