All throughout history and literature, many people fight for what they believe in, but it does not always mean that it is for a good cause. Knowing right from wrong is crucial when it comes to people within a virtuous society, because it gives them a sense of justice. The people of a society must first know what is right and what is wrong before being able to act upon a situation, assuming that they will do it in a fair and just manner. Once having acquired a virtuous state of mind, these people know that it would be morally just to help those in need, and to help them, it often requires a degree of fortitude. A society is virtuous when its people strive to have good morals and seek the benefit of others.
A society with strong morals can be seen in the epic poem Beowulf. Beowulf and his men leave their country to assist those in Denmark who are being killed and ravaged by a “demon.../ a devilish creature.../ [with] murder in his heart/ hell’s messenger” (Rebsamen 10). It is just that these men, having great strength, do not want to watch Denmark suffer, and because of this they help them. However, later on, when Beowulf is having a tough time fighting the dragon, his “hand-companions/… [did] not stand close to him/ … but they bent to the woods/ shelter[ing] their lives” not having the fortitude to assist Beowulf in his fight against the dragon (Rebsamen 84). These men lack fortitude when it was needed most. Although Beowulf told his men to stand aside before the battle commenced, they were too afraid of the dragon in the first place. They did not have enough fortitude to help see Beowulf’s triumph over the dragon making these men selfish, only having the desire to seek their own benefits and not that of others. An ...
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... and obstacles to be able to achieve justice within their society. Furthermore, even if one has good morals, it may take fortitude to seek the benefit of others, just like it took Beowulf and his band of men fortitude to help free the Danes from an evil monster. If a society were to have one strong virtue above all of the other ones it would be fortitude because “ courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point” -C. S. Lewis. And once a society acquires virtue as a whole, the are considered virtuous because “A nation as a society forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society" -Thomas Jefferson.
Works Cited
More, Thomas. Utopia. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1997. Print.
Rebsamen, Frederick R. Beowulf: An Updated Verse Translation. New York: Perennial Classics, 2004. Print.
Throughout a series of books, and now movies known as Divergent they hit a lot of points as to what is believed as a “good society”. In the series, Divergent all must conform and fall into a certain category Dauntless, Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, or Amity . If one fails to do so, and falls into all of the categories they are known as “Divergent," and must be killed for failing to conform to traditional society standards and rules. This relates to Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, because he talks about humans not needing a form of structure set by a hierarchy, such as a government. A good society according to Thoreau, is one with little to no government involvement, one that respects laws to a certain extent, and one that follows
According Aristotle, a virtuous person will always use reason and intellect, and effortlessly make the correct decisions in every situation. They have their hexis in the correct place, and they have truly lived and struggled. With a virtuous person, life will have not been easy, and a virtuous person will have had to experience difficult times and learn from these experiences. These experiences are what will make them a virtuous person. For example, a person who had lived their life in poverty, then makes the decision to work and study to get a high paying job. With this, they dedicate a great deal of their time and money to helping the homeless. This person would be an example of what a virtuous person, their soul has had struggled, and without this they would have not become this person. They need to have this struggle in order to become a virtuous person. With a virtuous person, they are naturally a good person.
Louden opens this section with this statement: “… it is commonplace that virtue theorists focus on good and bad agents rather than on right and wrong acts.” This is a good th...
According to Aristotle, a virtue is a state that makes something good, and in order for something to be good, it must fulfill its function well. The proper function of a human soul is to reason well. Aristotle says that there are two parts of the soul that correspond to different types of virtues: the appetitive part of the soul involves character virtues, while the rational part involves intellectual virtues. The character virtues allow one to deliberate and find the “golden mean” in a specific situation, while the intellectual virtues allow one to contemplate and seek the truth. A virtuous person is someone who maintains an appropriate balance of these two parts of the soul, which allows them to reason well in different types of situations.
On the one hand, in order to endure the “pressure of existence,” qualities such as pity, patience, humility and compassion become commendable. In this sense, “slave morality is essentially a morality of utility,” as it promotes qualities that would comfort and placate those who are living in pain. In another sense however, these aforementioned qualities are revered because the people are afraid of one another. The nobles valued and maintained some of “the highest and strongest drives, [which can] drive the individual far above the average and the flats of the herd conscience, wreck the self-confidence of the community, its faith in itself, and it is as if its spine snapped.” Wishing to prevent any possible danger to the stability of the community, the virtues of the nobles, which elevate the individual over the community, are condemned as evil. Since everyone is in fear of each other, slave morality is used to ensure that no one tries to subjugate the
...liefs. Furthermore, to say that there should be one “excellent persons’” moral standards that all shall desire to work towards is, in my opinion, unfeasible and unjust. Especially now in the twenty first century, there is a slight possibility to form an argument that most citizens live my a semi common moral standard; however, with the numerous amounts of different cultural backgrounds and religious beliefs there is no way that there can be a specific standard set for all individuals to meet. Rather citizens may strive to achieve what they believe to be their highest form of virtue concerning not only themselves but their place within the state as well.
Aristotle says that there are three ways to tell if a person is truly virtuous. The person must “in the first place ...
Morals are developed from the moment we are born to the moment we die, and are cultivated by what we see, hear, and do within our lives, but more importantly by the people we meet. In the world there are all manner of things for us to bear witness to, whether it be the beauty of birth or the gritty horror that is war, in either case men and women are shaped and changed by these events whether it be good or bad. The greek philosopher Aristotle is quoted as saying, “And to say what makes good morals vs what are bad ones is completely based on self, for no two people have the same upbringing, class, or position in life, for how is a slave who has known nothing but the brutality of his/her master to understand under what morals, owned by their
Over many years people have seemed to develop their thinking concerning morality based on resulting in interactions with individuals and social institutions. Different societies have their own cultures that have different ideas about how humans are to behave. Societies
...y. While understanding that Master Morality and Slave Morality are just the basis of what makes up all Morals and just as though our values where made of interchangeable parts we mix and match what feels right and what works for us as individuals. These basic morals that we tend to identify with will dictate how we align ourselves politically, socially, and religiously; because there is not a true ruling class or ruled class it is difficult to see the blurred lines that separate us morally. This is a product of our Democratic government that ensures our freedoms to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness but in turn does allow there to be such a dramatic difference between the wealthiest and the poorest of people. The system is not perfect but what makes it wonderful is the ability to adapt and change with the times and to improve itself for the benefit of all.
Last but not least, injustice does not provide the most good for the most number of people. Just acts spawn other just acts just like unjust acts spawn other unjust acts. If everyone behaved unjustly, mankind would return to a state of nature (everyone is for themselves) which would be very unprofitable for the unjust individual due to a decreased likelihood of survival. An action is clearly unprofitable for the unjust individual if it would eventually create a hostile environment for him. Hence, one should set an example for others by living a just life which would create a better environment for him as well as for others.
It has more to do with character and the nature of what it is to be. human, than with the rights and wrongs of our actions. Instead of concentrating on what is the right thing to do, virtue ethics asks how. you can be a better person. Aristotle says that those who do lead a virtuous life, are very happy and have a sense of well-being.
For the purposes of this essay human virtue is defined as a trait or ability such that one who has that trait or ability would be considered excellent and thus virtuous by human standards. Additionally it is important to keep
As society as a whole we are most often times given a set of rules to follow. These rules or laws act as a pathway to help us choose between right and wrong. If someone were to choose the wrong path, there can be severe consequences. In the United States it is common to see jail time when we go against the set moral code. In other countries we may see forced labor or find people put to death for their actions. Each society sets it’s own rules and moral standards. But there is much more to being a moral person than following the laws of a society. As defined by Alan Wolfe, moral freedom means “individuals should determine for themselves what it means to lead a good and virtuous life” (Wolfe, 2001). This means that even though we are given a
The thought of society today can really boggle ones mind. There is a strict set of rules put in place that everyone has to follow, as well as authority that people look up to. Depending on the society, rules can dictate the morality of the people.