Our purpose in life,
according to Plato and Khan, is being happy or feeling well. In order to
achieve happiness we must do good deeds and obey the natural and moral laws.
Therefore, if a person wants to be happy, one must sacrifice time and energy in
order to reach virtue. That is why in old books or movies there are certain old
people that are respected because they have achieved virtue. An example can be
in a mythology movie where one of the characters is the master. Obviously they
are powerful because of their knowledge and experience. Therefore their entire
life, majority, was invested in becoming virtuous. My question is, is it really
worth it? If it took them that long to achieve it, what is the point of having
it if eventually they will have to leave. I am not saying that is bad, what I
am saying shouldn't there be a quicker way to know if a person is virtuous or
not?
In addition, who
determines what is virtuous in today society? Has the definition of virtue
evolved? In my opinion, it is very complicated to point out an Aristotle or
Plato in our days. They would be seen as radicals. Plus, there is less respect
in our society. People do not follow what is good instead they follow the bad.
Mostly, because there is the argument of being "different ".
Basically, a majority of people are attracted to the bad philosophy e.g
philosophy is split between radicals and liberals.
Aristotle and Plato probably were seen as radicals in their own days. Remember, Socrates was put to death because he was so radical! I don't think there's less respect in our society. In fact, I think there's probably more respect. I'm a big believer in being politically correct (not in a "thought police" kind of way, but in a "We're all human beings, think about how your words affect others" way) and I'm very very hopeful that new generations are going to grow up knowing that throwing around slurs is wrong. This idea that people were kinder, better, more respectful, smarter in the past is one that each generation takes up. Each generation complains about "kids these days" and everyone always groans about how much better things were before--despite the fact that they usually weren't. We should never allow our past to be tinted with rose-colored glasses. The 50's sucked--sexism and racism were rampant, the cold war was awful, and people complained about the youth just as much as we do now. The same can be said for any other time in history. The 1800's, the 1500's, 25AD, 300BC--you name it, it sucked and people weren't always nice and they were split between different ideas and the kids had no respect.
ReplyDeleteIt takes a long time for old men to achieve morality or whatever you wanna call it in the movies because it is hollywood, they are just looking for publicity for their movies. Really finding good virtues does not have to take a life time, just long enough to make a habit and follow it. A young man can be virtuous if he tried.
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