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Albert Camus

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Ethics Final Exam

Albert Camus encourages the process of suicide because he believes that “life is meaningless”, so it does not matter if the life of a person is taken away. He does not believe in the saying life is precious. Camus makes a connection by displaying “game” as the symbol of life. He explains, “One must follow and understand this fatal game that leads from lucidity in the face of existence.” [1]If people understand the game then they have better chance of understanding what their purpose is in the world. Louis Hope Walker a theist, contest with Camus because his beliefs are that religion, in particular the theistic religion gives a special meaning to life. Walker shows that life has a purpose. Meaning and independence are important factors in every ones life and that they are compatible within the religious framework. Autonomy is important because GOD gave every one free will and intellect, so we need it on determining what is considered good and bad. He supposes that we should give up a little freedom in order to obtain more happiness.

Geneus 2

Value does not always make a person seem good, but the enormous increase of happiness does. He gives the example of “what if we were able to eliminate poverty, crime, and great suffering in the world by sacrificing at least one independent ability, would people take part in such involvement.” [2]If people did, autonomy would be decreased. Victor Frankl a member of the concentration camp, on the other hand believes that if one “has a why to live for, then they can bear with almost anyhow”.[3] While in the camp Frankl encountered many martyrs, he saw that they still had inner freedom and it could not be lost all though they were suffering or dead. He dreads not being worthy of his suffering, because they were. Frankl and Walker also believed that spiritual freedom could not be taken away because of the purpose it sustained. In the camp Frankl thought about how “an active life served a purpose of giving men the opportunity to realize values in a creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords people the opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art or nature”.[4]

Geneus 3

Meaning that people should sustain an active life where they seek the deepness in their work and passive is where one just enjoys life to their fullest. Frankl did not agree with Albert Camus although he did have a similar opinion with Louis Hope Walker about life’s connection with religion. Frankl also believes that there should be meaning in suffering, because it is a part of life. Without human suffering and death, human life would not be complete. Erich Fromm’s meanings of productive and nonproductive orientations are that when someone is productive they are interested in their lives and grow from what they have. Being something is more than having something, but we must be interested. If one is living productively, they must maintain a happy life. Nonproductive living is considered evil and full of fear; nonproductive is a failure to live. Fromm agrees that rules are a concession to our failure. No one enjoys having someone telling him or her what to do. Sometimes having that authoritarian voice sets ground rules in helping us decide which decision is right or wrong. There are two types of consciousness. Notion, which is a type of internal voice that tells us right from wrong and the other, is humanistic which is the authoritarian conscious. Fromm’s understanding of good and evil is associated with productive and nonproductive orientation because each character ties in with each orientation.Fromm says that physical masochisms are inflicting pain on one another as a pleasurable feeling. Although he says that satisfaction and joy are the thrill of a situation that happens for the moment and happiness is the constant state of feeling joy. In Caring Nel Noddings meant that caring should be the foundation of ethics. To care for another person is to help them grow and become. We should also help them connect with their potential. Caring is related to Gabriel Marcel’s notion on disponibilite because caring involves our ability to be sensitive. Disponibilte is the ability to make us available to others; to be present and attentive. To nurture is the process of helping to grow, educate, nourish etc. In order to maintain the ethical idea associated with caring one must nurture themselves first because human subjectivity is based on human objectivity.

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[1] Louis P. Pojman, The Moral Life: An Introductory in Ethics and Literature
(New York: Oxford Press, 2000), 588

[2]
Louis P. Pojman, The Moral Life: An Introductory in Ethics and Literature
(New York: Oxford Press, 2000), 596

[3] Louis P. Pojman, The Moral Life: An Introductory in Ethics and Literature
(New York: Oxford Press, 2000), 601
4 Louis P. Pojman, The Moral Life: An Introductory in Ethics and Literature
(New York: Oxford Press, 2000), 603

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