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.
Hope has the incredible ability to make or break someone. People are always told to make large goals in school and employment, and try to reach those ambitions no matter how far they are. Hope is the motivation behind accomplishing dreams, but it also has the ability to break people who have hoped for something so desperately, yet never came to fruition. Only determination and personal situations can persuade hope to fly or fall. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly highlights this ambiguous hope we depend on through the use of symbolism, characterization, and inner conflict.
In Oscar’s voyage in search of passionate love, he continually falls under the deadly, friend zone or as it’s u...
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.
No decision procedure – moral decision making is too complicated to have a single criterion for decision
...ature as to oppose the strong current of selfish passions."29 The Fathers did what any person would do in their position: they strove for self preservation above all other things.
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.
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.
The current dictionary definitions of courage are inadequate because they only include references to physical courage and omit instances of inner strength. Three contemporary dictionaries agree closely on the definition although they differ in the order of importance. Webster's New World Dictionary describes courage as "an attitude of facing and dealing with anything recognized as dangerous, difficult or painful, instead of withdrawing from it," and The American Heritage Dictionary gives a similar explanation. While The Shorter Oxford Dictionary concurs with this meaning, it states that the primary definition is "spirit, mind, or disposition."
Throughout biblical history , the idea of hope morphed. It began as confidence that God would provide the necessities of life - food, water, and land; protection from danger - not only as an individual but also as a group; justice - the righteous would be rewarded and the wicked would be punished; and community – God would always be there for His chosen people, and they would live in peace with other humans. However, the ways in which God would provide these four parts of hope changed in the New Testament. Characterizing this change, the Oxford Companion to the Bible says,
After I read the Women’s Roles in Traditional China Ebrey text, I know that it described women’s virtue and vices. And also the text includes perceptions of women and they can’t participate with the financial problems. For talking about the women’s roles in old China, I associate the Books of odes with describing the women’s figure, one of this odes describe, “ Peach tree young and fresh, plump are its fruits: this girl’s getting married, she’ll do well in her rooms. It depicted that most of girl were the virtuous figure and can do the well household at home. This text also indirectly mentioned that women should did the household at home and couldn’t have a work at outside, which shows that women has a low status in ancient society.
Moral courage, as defined in ADRP 6-22, is the willingness to stand firm on values, principles, and convictions. It enables all leaders to stand up for what they believe is right, regardless of the consequences. Leaders, who take full responsibility for their decisions and actions even when things go wrong, display moral courage. In most cases, one who displays moral courage is usually taking a stand against something that they know is wrong. Normally, it is not the popular decision. With physical courage, the fear factor is usually physical where with moral courage it is psychological. Often, a display of physical courage makes you the hero, while the same display with moral courage sometimes makes you appear to be the villain.
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
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
William Shakespeare shows the reader that religious hope is easy to come by when life is going well, but in the case of the persona it is even easier to fall away from religion. All that anyone truly has to fall back on is love. Love exists for both the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless. It costs nothing, and it breeds hope as well as happiness. To Shakespeare and his persona hope and happiness are worth more than all the jewels and gold a king could have. Gold and jewels are just items, and while they may glitter and shine, they cannot bring a man to Heaven. Whether it is physical, emotional, or religious, only love has the power to bring a man to the gates of Heaven.