...you were to ask a person’’What is living life to the fullest?’’ Chances are they’d say bungee jumping ,cliff diving,traveling or something to that effect. Hardly anyone would say growing mentally and becoming more self-aware. Right before Socrates was put to death , he stated that,“The unexamined life is not worth living.’’ This was directed towards the athenians because they lived a very acquiescent life.They obeyed the Gods without any questions and there was nothing beyond serving and pleasing the Gods.To comprehend what this means ,we must first understand what the unexamined life consisted of ,to Socrates the unexamined life‘’lacked self-assessment , limited human capacity and stifled the breath of reason.’’ What Socrates stated is very subjective because a wealthy man would probably say a life without money is not worth living or like Pythagoras who believed life was worthless without math.If you agree with Socrates then to live an examined life , you must discover what is this life worth to you?...
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...INTRODUCTION Socrates believed that the purpose of human life was personal and spiritual growth. We are unable to grow towards greater understanding of our true nature unless we take the time to examine and reflect upon our life. Examining our life reviles pattern of our behavior. Deeper contemplation yields understanding of the subconscious programming, the powerful mental software that runs our life. Unless we become aware of those patterns, much of our life is unconscious pattern. We all have blind spots sometimes when I examine a chronic problem in my life, I have unsetting feeling that I must be missing something, but I can’t quite see what it is. We try to examine ourselves but none of us can use our backside (our shadow) That’s why Socrates’ method of self examination includes an essential element that becomes Socratic dialogue. Dialoguing with a close friend, a spouse a skilled psychotherapist or spiritual advisers help reveal those blind spot we cannot see by our selves. This quote is from Socrates believed that the purpose of human life was personal and spiritual growth. We are unable to grow towards greater understanding of our true nature unless we take time to examine and reflect upon our life. Examining our life reveals pattern of behavior unless we become aware of these pattern, much of our life is unconscious repetition however many times we are too busy with our life and work to contemplate fully our life’s pattern. According to Socrates we need to stop and...
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...Why did the woman kill herself, and what is there in your life that is worth dying for? Books meant almost everything to the woman and if the firemen burned the books, there is no point in staying alive if everything she believes in is gone. She also understood that the books would be burned one way or another and instead of the firemen burning them, she burned it herself. This is used to protest the burning of books because traditionally the firemen were the ones to start the fire, but by starting the fire by herself, she hopes to show how books are of a significance than the belief that it is detrimental to the people and to incite a protest against the burning of books. In my life, the thing that is worth dying for is my family as it is...
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...analyze and contrast and most of us would agree with Socrates when he makes the claim that “…the unexamined life is not worth living…” From a more personal standpoint I would completely agree with Socrates point of view, due to the fact most of us in society have chosen to live an “unexamined life” for centuries and as a result we live in a society where one is segregated from our freewill as human beings as well as a society that that is restrained by rules and other types of social “walls”. Today there appears to be an ever increasing fascination with the bold statement that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” The man simply and directly states that lives that are not examined are not worth living. One might ask why Socrates would make such a strong and irrevocable statement. Well, Socrates believed the purpose of life was spiritual and through the spirit and soul one could achieve personal growth and development. Man is unable to grow towards a greater and true understanding of his nature unless we are willing to examine and reflect upon our lives. Santayana, another philosopher, stated “He who does not remember the past is condemned to repeat it.” I think as humans it is in our nature to examine and question, to hope and aspire. Think about it, without aspirations how can we attain excellence? Without asking yourself and planning where you want to go or head in life; how can you work towards your goals if you do not know what makes you as a person tick? Reflection and...
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...[5] Yes, we have the obligation to provide our children with the best possible life but prenatal testing for disabilities should be limited to conditions that would lead to the child having a life not worth living or conditions that have treatment options prior to birth that would increase the child’s quality of life. Using prenatal testing for any other purpose will do more harm than good to the child and society, as we will be putting high expectations on the child and promoting social inequality. According to the three theories of well being, hedonistic, desire-fulfillment and the objective list theory we will not be providing the best opportunities for our children to be happy. While prenatal testing can provide some vital information that will benefit expecting parents, using it create children without disabilities discriminates and dehumanizes those currently living with mental and physical deficiencies. It will also create greater social inequality as those...
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...T= I am the Messenger A=Markus Zusak G= Fiction D= June, 29, 15 Reading Response Journal “I want words at my funeral. But I guess that means that you need life in your life.” (p. 298) This passage encompasses the main idea of the book. All of the messages, actions and thoughts led to the idea of living a life instead of just coasting along. It is very hard to explain what living a life means because it is different for everyone. Not living a life is what Richie, Ed, Marv, Milla, and many other characters in the book were doing, they were barely surviving, barely paying attention and not enjoying everything around them. The idea of living is based on happiness on a sense of purpose, this is why people turn to religion, politics and even crime. It is because they want to have an...
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...L. Saunders, J.D. once said “Disabling diseases and injuries, including those for which there is a terminal diagnosis, are tragic. However, there is no such thing as a life not worth living.” Assisted suicide is na escape for the terminally ill but it is not justifiable. There are many issues with suicide and a lot more issues with suicide by physician. In this paper I am going to venture into a few of these issues and show you why we should not stand behind legalized assisted suicide. As a society we operate under the Social Contract which guarantees us the rights to life, liberty and property. Not only is assisted suicide not a fundamental liberty because it harms the Due Process Clause it also is forbidden under the social contract’s “life clause.” In order for a government to be just and fair it must protect the lives of its citizens and assisted suicide in all forms harms this. In the Supreme Court case Washington v. Glucksberg the majority opinion stated “The history of the law's treatment of assisted suicide in this country has been and continues to be one of the rejection of nearly all efforts to permit it. That being the case, our decisions lead us...
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...family of the fetus. The other main view today is pro-life, which states under no circumstance may a life be taken away. There are many concerns with abortion, the biggest being is the fetus an actual person yet? Many of us will never know the answer to that question. Two views I will go deeper into is the view of Immanuel Kant and the view of a Utilitarian. Immanuel Kant is a firm believer that every person has rights and that no one has the right to infringe on them. To Kant all actions should be done with doing the right thing in mind. The only problem with that is what is right to him is not necessarily correct to somebody else. Kant would believe that under no circumstance would an abortion be justifiable because it would be murder to him, tying back to the idea that no person has the right to interfere with another person’s right to life. Kant would believe it does not matter the way the women got impregnated, it is irrelevant. In other words everything Kant believed involved “Human Worth”. Killing a fetus would be destroying “worth” which goes against everything Kant stood for. His view would be that the fetus was brought into this world through another person, one of the aspects of human worth, making an abortion a non-option. Essentially Kant is saying that even if the women was raped or cannot afford to raise the child she has no right to take away a life, there would be other options not involving the taking of life. The other view, the one of the utilitarian’s disputes...
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...100 Prof. Michael Rosenthal 22 April 2015 Paper 1 Topic 2 Socrates, accused of making the worse into the stronger argument, corrupting the young and not believing in the same Gods the city believes in (24b), was found guilty and sentenced to death. After being sentenced and awaiting his penalty, his friend, Crito, visited Socrates. While awaiting his death, Crito attempted to convince Socrates that he should flee from Athens and escape his death sentence. Why might Crito try to convince Socrates to break the law and escape from Athens? Crito explained to Socrates that if Socrates were to die, not only would Crito be deprived of a friend, but Crito’s reputation would be harmed as well. Crito believed that if he were to allow Socrates to die, people would think that Crito valued money more than his own friends (Socrates dying would indicate that Crito did not spend money in order to save him) (43d). Crito’s concern for his reputation and the thoughts of the majority prompted Socrates to raise a question, “why should we care so much for what the majority think?” (43d). Crito responded by saying it is important to show concern for the opinion of the majority, “…one must also pay attention to the opinion of the majority,” (44d). Crito believed that paying mind to the opinion of the majority is important because “…the majority can inflict not the least but pretty well the greatest evils if one is slandered among them,” (44d). In other words, the majority has the ability to...
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...Explain Aristotle’s human function argument. Does it provide a good basis for understanding eudaimonia? The link between the human function argument and eudaimonia has been harshly criticised due to it being based upon three questionable claims: that human beings have a function, that the good for a human being resides on the fulfilment of that function and that being a good human being leads to eudaimonia. I will nevertheless show that once the concepts of eudaimonia, virtue and human function are correctly understood, it is possible to answer many of the objections that criticise the human function argument as a good basis for the understanding of eudaimonia. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle’s purpose is to discover the human good, that at which we ought to aim. Aristotle tells us that everyone calls this good eudaimonia (happiness, flourishing, success, wellbeing), but that people disagree about what it consists in. Aristotle insist that the point of engaging in ethics is to become good and by searching for ‘’the good’’ he means searching for the highest good; that which is desirable for itself rather than for the sake of some other good and that for whose sake all other goods are desirable. Aristotle then goes on to argue that ‘’eudaimonia’’ (well-being) is the highest end, since all other subordinate goals are sought after only because they promote this well-being or happiness. But unless we can determine which good or goods happiness consist in, it is of no use to understand...
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...It’s Not Worth The Journey The United states are known to have a large population of illegal immigrants. Immigrants seeking for the “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” () which America has however their nation doesn't. Immigrants are willing to leave their country, risk their life, and dignity to become part of America, but is it worth it? These immigrants never get to see their family, are constantly being taken advantage of and will never be seen as part of American no matter how hard they work these are some reasons why the journey to America is not worth it. Furthermore the journey to America is not worth it, despite any potential benefits since Immigrants desert their families to go to America with the broken guarantee that they will return. In the book Enrique's journey, Sonia Nazario uncovers the account of a single parent named Lourdes that left her children Enrique and...
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...Unexamined Life Many people nowadays have really been questioning and asking themselves, “What’s the purpose of life”? If you really been questioning that then you’re really not living life to your fullest potential. The intelligent Greece philosopher Socrates once said “An unexamined life is not worth living”. Socrates stated this statement because it is saying one should examine their selves first before judging others in society and find the meaning and happiness of life. Socrates general reason for making this claim in my opinion is because is because he was tired of people living the “lazy’ life and not going beyond their ability to achieve the best to their ability. Socrates was put on trial for many things. Most importantly Socrates was put on trial because he was talking about false Gods and corrupting the youth. Socrates was a debatable person and hardly anyone on the town liked him. Socrates was known as someone who would challenge anyone's thinking; he did it through his endless and circular Socratic dialogues, and Socrates publicly questioned the Gods Athenians worshiped. Socrates was found guilty and was then sentenced. He would abide by the law and didn't even try to convince the jury he was innocent. Socrates preformed his own sentence on his own by drinking poison and ended up killing himself. Socrates really did not have a lot of fans on his side because everyone just thought he was better and wiser than them. The only way they were able to get rid of him was...
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...PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE I cannot remember as a child asking myself the "why and what" questions about life. What is its purpose and what to do? Why do certain things happen? Why are we here? Why? I may be saying this for I think at this age; I'm living happily, with my family, playing with my friends and neighbors, going to school, and all about kids fun. Hence, living life like what my parents want it to be. However, later on as time passes by, and as I grew older, everything seems to sink in and slowly and slowly, concern and obligation comes to arise, decisions to make and responsibility to take. This responsibility includes those of the personal and social aspects. On a personal point, our obligation is to take care of ourselves, stay healthy and live happily. While socially, I strongly believe in the saying, do unto others, as you would like them to do unto you. Although abiding this rule is quite not easy, but trying to do this has no payment at all, besides, it will help the society to run smoothly as possible without too much strife. For this reason, we as humans are conscious enough to be able to make assessment, evaluation, and realization whether our action is the right one or not. Despite the fact that Life is complex and complicated to define, I understand that everybody has a different vision of Life on the world. All have different opinion and view on how they should act and what traits make a good person. As they say - what would be the point of living everyday...
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...ready to escape the high cost of living in a country or city that is only getting more expensive by the month, you would not be alone. Cities all across North America are seeing the middle class being pushed out or into poverty. The good news is you have a few choices. You can make it big in business, win the sweepstakes, inherit a ton of money, find buried treasure or move to another country. More and more people are looking at taking the latter option and moving outside their native land. Weighing in are big factors like less financial stress and more carefree living. It's important to ask yourself if staying where you are is worth the stress of living month to month on a fixed income...
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...Childhood and adolescence is a period in life where one finds out what their identity is. Questions such as “who am I?” and “why am I here?” are just some of the questions that are asked during this fragile part in one’s life. In Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones and Heather O’Neil’s Lullabies for Little Criminals, the loss of innocence at a young age seems to be the main theme. Childhood is innocence and people must try to preserve that innocence for as long as possible or else it might cause complications and difficulties later on in life. The protagonists in both of these stories, Baby and Susie, have been exposed to too much “adult like” things for anyone their age Both protagonists are deprived of fundamentals of life at such an early stage in their lives which causes them to struggle with trying to find their true identity and their self worth. Being exposed to drugs and violence, changes in environments and not being in control of their own lives play key parts in their struggle throughout. Ultimately they struggle to realize their full potential and find independence from these experiences. At such young ages, especially ages 12 and 14, Susie and Baby are already deprived of their innocence in life. At such tender ages where one is trying to discover themselves, they find themselves not knowing if they are children or adults. Being exposed to things such as violence, death, and drugs does not help them in their journey. Susie Salmon and Baby are independent, there is no...
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