Different Approaches to the Meaning of Life Essay Example for Free

Different Approaches to the Meaning of Life Essay The question what is the meaning of life? is often treated as a paradigmatic head in the clouds sort of philosophical question that more practical people shouldnt have the time for, but its actually a question of tremendous practical importance. Further, it is a question to which most people, even those who claim to have no interest in such questions, answer implicitly with the lives they chose to lead. So if you don’t want to bother with such questions, and just want to enjoy yourself, you are effectively saying that enjoyment is the ultimate point of human life. If you spend your life pursuing one of, say, money, power, pleasure, or religious understanding, then you implicitly commit yourself to such organizing principles representing what is really important in life. The choices we make in our lives are often governed by such implicit conceptions of what is most important to us, and while it may be that, say, being happy is the most important thing, it may take a certain amount of reflection on these larger questions to become clear about this. Some might think that thinking about questions like the meaning of life is itself the most important thing for us to do, but even if we don’t, we can still see that it is very important to spend at least some time doing, since such organizing principles are too important for us to accept without reflecting on them at all. Further, if there really is a point or meaning to our lives, and we live our lives according to a different principle (say if we live for enjoyment when serving God is the real purpose of life, or (conversely) if we spend our lives in prayer when enjoying life is its real purpose) then we may have literally wasted our lives. Since that is something we shouldnt want to do, it seems that, if life does have a purpose, we would do well to know what it is. On the other hand, if life doesnt have a purpose, it might be good to know that rather than spending it serving some illusory ideal, though this latter point is more controversial. If life did have no meaning, and there was no point to anything we did, then it might seem better not to investigate this topic at all, since looking in to it would only cause us distress. (Though if life really were meaningless, the fact that we were so distressed would not really matter. ) 2. Four Approaches to the question of life’s meaning. While the authors covered in the class give many varied answers to the question of what the meaning of life is, and some dont give a clear answer to it at all, they all fall into one of four groups when it comes to thinking about that kind of answer the questions should have. That is to say, there are four different approaches to the question: What is it that determines the meaning of our lives? 1 I. Radical Objectivists. This first group (which includes Plato, Epictetus, Schopenhauer, as well as James and Tolstoy in their post-crisis periods) take what really matters to be determined by factors that are completely independent of us (be it God, Reason, Nature, the Form of the Good or just the way things are). Its our responsibility to live up to these standards, but there is no sense in which these standards come from us. (Schopenhauer, while he denies that God exists, has a touch of this when he insists that a life of intellect just is objectively better (and not just happier) than a life of passion and willing). This might, of course, seem to make lifes purpose too remote from our actual lives, which might lead one to become one of the II. Theorists of Human Nature In this second group we can include Aristotle, Marx and Epicurus. Like the radical objectivists they take the purpose of life to be something given, that is, its an objective fact that we arent at liberty to change, but unlike the radical objectivists, they think that this fact is grounded in objective facts about our own natures. Our shared human nature is what determines what is the best life for all of us. Still, it may be hard to defend this sort of view unless one were already a radical objectivist, since without such an overarching framework, its much harder to think of humans as having a such a fixed essence or nature, which might lead one to become one of the III. Constructivists This third group (which includes Nietzsche, Sartre, Hare, and Nagel (from his more subjective perspective)) ground the purpose of our lives in our own drives, desires and wants. However, unlike the theorists of human nature, they dont take such drives to be objective in the sense of being independent of our attitudes towards them. For these philosophers, the drives etc. that ground the purpose of our lives can change, and are (to a certain extent) under our (not always conscious) control. Because of this, the meanings of our lives, such as they are, are things that we make. Unfortunately, one might doubt that transient creatures like ourselves are up to the task of making such meanings, in which case one might become one of the IV. Nihilists This last group (which includes Camus, Nagel (from his more objective perspective) and James Tolstoy (when they were in crisis mode)) agree with the constructivists that there are no objective facts which could determine a purpose to our lives, but also believe that something as ephemeral as our passing desires and drives is not enough to make a life really meaningful. Consequently, in the absence of any objective meaning, life must ultimately have no meaning at all, and there is, ultimately, no ‘point’ in doing anything. This final spot is not a happy one to be in, and its perhaps not surprising that James and Tolstoy both bounce from #4 back to #1 when the prospect of living with #4 becomes too bleak. Still, while it can seem natural to slip from 1 to 2, from 2 to 3 and from 3 to 4, and 4 to despair, lots of people have argued that the slide can be stopped at various points along the way. 1 As a result, every point on the spectrum has it supporters, though no position on it seems completely stable, which is why the question will probably always continue to be debated. 1 H a r e , f o r in s ta n c e , c a n b e u n d e r s to o d a s a r g u in g th a t th e th r o u g h th a t 3 le a d s to 4 c o m e s f r o m a c o n f u s io n a b o u t w h a t it is to m a tte r .

The Confucian Filial Obligation and Care for Aged Parents :: Asian Philosphy Chinese Research

The Confucian Filial Obligation and Care for Aged Parents ABSTRACT: Some moral philosophers in the West (e.g., Norman Daniels and Jane English) hold that adult children have no more moral obligation to support their elderly parents than does any other person in the society, no matter how much sacrifice their parents made for them or what misery their parents are presently suffering. This is because children do not ask to be brought into the world or to be adopted. Therefore, there is a "basic asymmetry between parental and the filial obligations." I argue against the Daniels/English thesis by employing the traditional Confucian view of the nature of filial obligation. On the basis of a distinction between 'moral duty' and 'moral responsibility' and the Confucian concept of justice, I argue that the filial obligation of adult children to care respectfully for their aged parents is not necessarily self-imposed. I conclude that due to the naturalistic character of the family, the nature of our familial obligations (such as parental caring for young children and adult children's respectful caring for aged parents) cannot be consensual, contractarian and voluntarist, but instead existential, communal and historical. Some moral philosophers in the West hold that adult children do not have any more moral obligation to support their elderly parents than does any other person in the society, no matter how much sacrifice their parents made for them in the past or what kinds of misery their parents are presently suffering. This is so, they claim, because children do not ask to be brought into this world or to be adopted. Thus, the traditional filial obligation of supporting and taking care of the aged is left as either the private responsibility of the elderly themselves or as a societal burden on the public. (1) For example, Norman Daniels argues that there is a "basic asymmetry between parental and the filial obligations" (Daniels, 1988, p.29). The parental obligation of caring for their young children, says Daniels, is a "self-imposed" duty, while the so-called children's obligation of caring for their aged parents is "non-self-imposed" and thus cannot be morally required. (2) In her famous essay, "What Do Grown Children Owe Their Parents," Jane English also claims that a favor done without it being requested or a voluntary sacrifice of one for another can only create "a friendly gesture" (Sommers & Sommers, 1993, pp. 758-765). It incurs neither an "owing" nor a moral obligation to reciprocate.

Miss Bridget

It has been stressed that, in the 19th Century, if any women, Irish, Chinese, Jew or Japanese, wanted to go to America, it would be best if they were married. Irish women in America were not as bent on marriage as much as other nationalities; in fact, Irish women preferred to stay single. A single Irish domestic servant then living in America was called a â€Å"Miss Bridget†. Irish women preferred being a domestic servant to being married because, as a servant, they would have shelter, food, and financial security and need nothing else. Marriage, therefore, was not the option for Irish women in the 19th Century. Nineteenth-century women, in general, were viewed as dependent on men for refuge, food, and economic support. Throughout their lives, women were being dependent, initially to their fathers and then to their husbands- raising this question: â€Å"Is there anyone who will depend on the women†? This is one reason why women want to get married, for them to experience how it feels like when someone, like their children, depend on them. Generally, for any culture or race, women primarily marry to start a new family. Other possible reasons include money, protection, and shelter. The Chinese were the first immigrants restricted by race and class to go to America. As a result, it was then very difficult for Chinese women to go there; however, almost all Chinese families still wanted to migrate to America for promises of better opportunities than China could offer. The Chinese families, therefore, influenced their women to get married in order to increase their chances of migration. Consequently, since Chinese women wanted to keep their families happy, like Wong Ah So, they would want to get married in order to obey their parents’ wishes. Southern Ladies (white women), however, did marry because who would not want to marry rich white men? The husband would have nannies/maids in the house who would take care of the kids, cook for the family, and clean the house. The only concern a wife then would have to deal with was making sure the servants were doing their work. After marriage, women were to find out that their marital situations were not in congruence with their expectations or not like the way they thought it would be, particularly because of their culture. When Rachel Calof lived with her Aunt, she met a young boy, a butcher who liked her very much, but her grandfather did not give that boy a chance to go out with her. â€Å"He stated that my marriage to a butcher would defame the family name forever† (Calof 8). Her family’s culture made it impossible for her to marry the butcher. For Irish women, their culture and status shaped their expectations of marriage. For instance, being from the lower echelons of society would mean having no expectations of marriage. The best option in this case would then be to become a nun since the Church provided shelter, protection, money, and food. They would even have the chance to help the Irish community. From the beginning, society viewed women as daughters of Eve, so as time progressed, it seemed like society and/or men molded women into beings it/they wanted them to be. For decades, women have been viewed negatively and no one expected or wanted women to take charge. All that women hoped for was for the time to come when they would earn society’s respect and acquire an equal treatment with men.   Since women’s social value was rooted on motherhood, if they wanted society to view them as perfect Americans, wives had to support the American Revolution, raise funds for the American soldiers, demonstrate loyalty, and teach their children loyalty to their country, especially the boys. To be â€Å"True Women† in the 19th Century, they had to be sexually pure, religious, domestic, and submissive.   It was a wife’s responsibility to her husband to be a â€Å"true woman† and to respect and not question the husband’s actions and decisions. In a typical home, the father was the head of the house and the provider of food, clothing, shelter, and protection. The child was supposed to obey and respect his/her father at all times.   Abigail Adams, John Adams’s wife, was involved behind the scenes in his political career and reminded him after the Declaration of Independence to acknowledge women’s role in the American Revolution. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, another woman, also tried to resolve these conflicts and wrote the Declaration of Sentiments. She spoke at the Seneca Falls Convention Center saying, â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness† (Stanton 214). After Stanton delivered this speech, everyone was surprised for she modified a word from the Declaration of Independence. Had it not been for women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Lucretia Mott, today’s women would still be viewed as daughters of Eve. In conclusion, marriage in the 19th Century had its advantages and disadvantages. Women were better off being married because of their over-reliance on men and for better chances of survival. The advantages of being married then included having shelter, food, protection, financial support, and a family. The Japanese culture would be a good illustration here- when Japanese men wanted to get married, they had to prove to the Japanese Government that they were prepared to get married and financially ready to raise a family. A Japanese woman was never required to prove to the Government her financial capability; all a woman had to do was show up and get married. Even though women would not have a voice in the house after being married, having a place to stay when they grow old would be an ample consolation.            

Andrew Jackson The Second President Of The United States...

Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States of America, brave, tough, and mean as a snake but how did he get that way? He was born in South Carolina to his newly emigrated family. His father died soon after he was born, so his mother raised three kids by herself and some Irish immigrant farmers. When he was thirteen he and his brothers joined the Revolutionary war to fight the British. His oldest brother died in battle, but Jackson and his other brother were captured. Jackson disobeyed his captors and was cut with a sword also him and his brother got smallpox in captivity. When they were released because of a prisoner exchange his brother shortly died from sickness. Jackson recovered but his mother died of cholera and†¦show more content†¦Although he thought that the people should have a say in government he didn t fight for slaves, women, or Native Americans to have their opinions heard. In fact he signed the Indian Removal Act, which moved Cherokee tribe out of Georgia into an Indian reservation in the West. Actually the Supreme Court ruled this unlawful in the case of Worcester v. Georgia in 1832, but when Georgia ignored the ruling Jackson didn t complain. Jackson had a chance to stop the trail of tears from happening and saving about four thousand Cherokee Indians. Jackson believe the people in charge of the bank of the US were crooked and the bank would needed to be crushed. So, when the bill for the charter for the Second Bank of the United States came up he immediately vetoed it. He then decided to deposit the federal fund of the United States in pet 23 pet banks. Nicholas Biddle the head of the back fought back as hard as he could but Jackson was determined and frankly he didn t listen to anyone but the people. Jackson issued his own form of paper currency (banknotes) that were backed by Specie Circular, which was usually silver or gold coins. The extreme inflation of the economy started after Jackson dismantled the Second bank of the US. The inflation was caused by the banks issuing banknotes that were unbacked by the Specie Circular. This was a big part of starting the Panic of 1837, it wasn t the only reason but one of the biggest. When building our country the foundingShow MoreRelatedAndrew Jackson : Good President845 Words   |  4 PagesPresident Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson helped to provide for a strong protection of popular democracy and individual liberty to the United States. Andrew Jackson known as the people’s president held a strong emotion in the states right’s which advocated to the increase of executive power. President Andrew Jackson was good for his country, because he provided certain decisions that helped form America into a better place than where it was before. 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