Examples Of Ethical Egoism In A Walk To Remember

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Philosophy In A Walk to Remember
A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks tops the list as my all-time favorite book turned movie. I have waited for the time to write about this movie and was excited when I learned that I had to apply an ethical theory to it. This teen romance novel has many different philosophical points, but one of the main ones is Ethical Egoism. After a hazing incident goes extremely wrong, Landon, one of the most popular boys in school gets sentenced to community service, then is forced to act in the school play. After he miserably fails at reading the script, he ends up having to ask for help from the “good girl”, Jamie Sullivan. After she establishes some rules, one final request is asked of him; “You have to promise you …show more content…

I used to view this movie as a teen romance movie about a guy falling in love with a girl with cancer, and that is it. However, after applying the ethical egoism theory to the plot, I soon learned that even if she didn’t mean to, Jaimie used Landon for her own selfishness. Even though she warned him once, she couldn’t help but make him fall in love with her. She wanted to experience what true love felt like, even if it meant hurting someone else in the process. This plot relates to the reality of how every person thinks and acts. Even if there is something that we need to tell someone, we get so caught up in emotions that by the time the truth comes out, it’s already too late to prevent what we wanted to avoid in the first …show more content…

I learned that we cannot avoid making ethical decisions in our lives. We can apply ethics to everyday feelings and acts, it is truly inevitable. Every choice we make relies heavily on our own morality. In the end, everyone is selfish and it’s not always a bad thing. Everyone deserves happiness because it is intrinsically good. Happiness for Jamie meant falling in love. What she did had consequences, but what doesn’t? After applying all the theories, I appreciate the movie a little bit more. I never understood it before, but this movie has so much meaning. It says so every human has flaws, even when trying to achieve the best version of

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