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The Christian Sci-Fi novel, Out of the Silent Planet, was written by the British theologian, author, and professor C.S. Lewis in 1938. The book is a third-person account of the space travels and alien encounters of a lonely philologist named Elwin Ransom, who is abducted by two elementary schoolmates while he was on a walking-tour. This begins his unexpected galactic journey to Malacandra, where upon landing there, he escapes from his kidnappers and experiences the nature, creatures, and morals of the foreign land. While readers can agree virtue is a trait one must obtain, opinions bifurcate how one does so. Some people surmise that by simply avoiding evil, one is virtuous; others reckon that one must do good in addition to avoiding evil to acquire virtue. Virtue is attained by the avoidance of evil and actions of good for three reasons: the word is defined as such, Ransom exemplifies it in this way, and Socrates regards it in this manner. Foremost, the word virtue itself means needing to do good and avoid evil in its two …show more content…
In the beginning of the novel, Ransom embarks upon a solo trek across the English countryside to escape all responsibility. Only begrudgingly does he come to the aid of a bereaved mother to locate her mentally handicapped son. Ransom certainly avoids doing evil, but is rather selfish and concerned primarily about himself. However, in his fight for survival and pleasant dealings with the morally righteous hnau of Malacandra, Ransom begins to compare human philosophy and theology with Malacandrain principles. A perceptible change can be observed in Ransom’s character. Ransom concludes ignorance spawns evil and humility defeats in it, and that humans are “a bent race” and only “bent creatures are full of fears” (Lewis 53 & 79). His exploration of the foreign land and discussions with the other races taught him how to be
Virtue ethics is an approach that “deemphasizes rules, consequences and particular acts and places the focus on the kind of person who is acting” (Garrett, 2005). A person’s character is the totality of his character traits. Our character traits can be goo...
“An idea (concept) of virtue which not be formally reflective or clarified bears some resemblance to religion, so that one might say either that it is a shadow of religion, or religion is a shadow of it” (Murdoch 363). Virtue and morality are not necessarily interchangeable, but religion and virtue both have a duty in common. Duty may be performed without strain or reflection of desire, which means your duty, or responsibility, should be performed without hesitation. “Dutifulness could be an account of a morality with no hint of religion” (Murdoch 364). Religion’s demand for morality and being good trumps a person’s decision to fulfill a personal/independent call to duty.
... Ransom ties all of his experiences on Malacandra together and learns that trivial aspects of life should not be feared (153). Instead of fearing life and death, mankind should fear ignorance and inequality (imbalance). Through this mere statement, Ransom proved his understanding that through the use of morality, a greater understanding of life (especially fear) may be attained.
When he first wakes up on board the spaceship after being kidnapped, he is fascinated and also terrified by the odd occurrences caused by being in space. After overcoming his initial fear, Ransom asks Weston many questions regarding space, such as what star they are heading to. His curiosity overcomes even his own anger at being kidnapped, as he asks Weston why they have taken him but is much more interested in his current situation. Later, on the planet Mars, Ransom encounters an alien species known as Hross. Although initially fearful, his curiosity soon leads him to come closer to the creature, and Ransom is able to see that the creature is not merely animal but also intelligent. This leads to him travelling with the Hross to his village and befriending many of the strange seal-like creatures. Finally, during his journey with the Sorn Augray, Ransom asks many questions. He asks about the history of the planet, its species, and Oyarsa, showing his curious mind and his eagerness to learn
Virtue ethics is a moral theory that was first developed by Aristotle. It suggests that humans are able to train their characters to acquire and exhibit particular virtues. As the individual has trained themselves to develop these virtues, in any given situation they are able to know the right thing to do. If everybody in society is able to do the same and develop these virtues, then a perfect community has been reached. In this essay, I shall argue that Aristotelian virtue ethics is an unsuccessful moral theory. Firstly, I shall analyse Aristotelian virtue ethics. I shall then consider various objections to Aristotle’s theory and evaluate his position by examining possible responses to these criticisms. I shall then conclude, showing why Aristotelian virtue ethics is an unpractical and thus an unsuccessful moral theory in reality.
However, you could learn moral goodness, but, that it is a result of habit. The only way to improve is with time, practice, and encouragement. Also if somebody is not virtuous or does not have good morals, they just need a better teacher or need to practice it more.
A major comment that Lewis is making is about the human need for self-gratification and pleasure. This idea is explored through Ransom and Hyoi’s conversation about pleasure. Ransom says, “‘If a thing is a pleasure, a hman wants it again...’” (74), to which Hyoi then goes on to try to explain that, “‘A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered. You are speaking, Hman, as if the pleasure was one thing and the memory another. It is all one thing’” (74). Through this, Lewis is showing the human tendency to desire something that brings us pleasure to not only do so once, but over and over. In the conversation between Hyoi and Ransom, they go onto talk about such with poetry, food and so on, to the average human thinking of these things, the thought automatically seems to be, if you like it, you should do it until you don’t. Whereas we see through Hyoi, that is not how they perceive pleasure should be dealt with, a specific pleasure should happen once, and because it
Louden opens this section with this statement: “… it is commonplace that virtue theorists focus on good and bad agents rather than on right and wrong acts.” This is a good th...
Weston believed that he could save the human race. He planned to invade and take over different planets, one by one, so that humanity would live on forever. As Oyarsa said to Weston, “There are laws that all hnau (creatures) know…and one of these is the love of kindred. He (the devil) has taught you to break all of them except this one, which is not one of the greatest laws; this one he has bent till it becomes folly and has set it up, thus bent, to be a little, blind Oyarsa in your brain” (Lewis, 137). Weston believed that this one great act he was doing for humanity would justify all his unrighteous deeds. Weston did not value individual life, only the human populace as a whole. Weston, therefore, did not have virtues. He had one goal in mind, but did not practicing excellent deeds a habit. Weston had kidnapped Ransom and brought him as a sacrifice in order to save humanity. His morals and habits of excellence were lost. A bent man who is actively and zealously pursuing a single moral law is capable of far more evil than a man with no morality at all (Lewis,
...importance of virtue here is that, virtues are needed for living well; But in order to obtain
Hursthouse, R. (2003, July 18). Virtue Ethics. Stanford University. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/ethics-virtue
According to Aristotle, a virtue is a state that makes something good, and in order for something to be good, it must fulfill its function well. The proper function of a human soul is to reason well. Aristotle says that there are two parts of the soul that correspond to different types of virtues: the appetitive part of the soul involves character virtues, while the rational part involves intellectual virtues. The character virtues allow one to deliberate and find the “golden mean” in a specific situation, while the intellectual virtues allow one to contemplate and seek the truth. A virtuous person is someone who maintains an appropriate balance of these two parts of the soul, which allows them to reason well in different types of situations.
For example, self-control and endurance are two important virtuous qualities, however they may cause harm to a person or make him unhappy if practiced in wrong situations, for example, someone who endure in a corrupting marriage or proceed in a failing business. Likewise, a person who is courage can think of committing suicide. The lack of balancing your virtues like compassion, justice, morality and wisdom in these situations is certain to lead to the desire to die. Therefore, what is difficult appears to be deficient virtue not additional virtue. In addition, a person who values honesty and always speak the truth is a virtuous person, however, the same person might resort to lie in particular situations.
Virtue, then deals with those feelings and actions in which it is wrong to go too far and wrong to fall too short but in which hitting the mean is praiseworthy and good….
It has more to do with character and the nature of what it is to be. human, than with the rights and wrongs of our actions. Instead of concentrating on what is the right thing to do, virtue ethics asks how. you can be a better person. Aristotle says that those who do lead a virtuous life, are very happy and have a sense of well-being.