Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Life lessons learning from doctrine of the mean application
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In a certain game, if the “game rule” allows you to order your preference over your choices, you will, in theory, find out the option that matters most to you; if it does not, you may not single out one of your most favourites. What matters most to you in the later case is the “game rule”, because it influences your decision. Based upon the above reasoning, my answer to the question of what matters most to you is the “game rule”, my guiding philosophy of doctrine of the mean. It affects my decision when I face choices in life.
Doctrine of the mean is one of the most sophisticated ancient Chinese philosophies. But my education and life experience have helped develop my own understanding of the philosophy, which in return guides my view of the world and my choice for life.
The doctrine of the mean represents a life attitude toward choices of life based on self-awareness. If someone seems to be full of ideas, like a cup of water, how can any more go in---until he/she first pours some water out? I used to be the “full cup of water” person, leaving no room for changing. I ranked No.1 ...
Rule utilitarianism must find a balance between rules and utility to try and maximize human flourishing. Williams and Harwood both critique utilitarianism, but an ideal rule utilitarianism is able to satisfy any critique posed. An ideal rule utilitarianism would be able to avoid the problem of rule worship while still allowing the rules to carry sufficient meaning. Rule utilitarianism should refine rules to become more specific, which will hopefully lead to the ideal form of rule utilitarianism. Rule utilitarianism is able to respond to the criticisms proposed by Williams and Harwood by making more specific rules that will coincide with the greatest happiness
To conclude, personal choices are very significant in one’s life. In “The Use of Force”, by William Carlos Williams and “Lather and Nothing Else, by Hernando Tellez, both authors showed how people make their own judgments every day in life. However, the stories were different in certain cases because the decisions made by the individual caused the conflict to either end in an optimistic way or undesirable way. Personal choices are important because they help people solve conflicts, but the person must be careful if there personal choice they create is strong.
By the beginning of the common era, another philosophy emerges and gains wide acceptance among the commoners. Daoism, just like the predecessor and also as the name implies, puts emphasis on "the way," that a certain individual is to abide to. Even though the two systems had different concepts about the way, the common denominator of both schools ...
In conclusion, preference is truly free will that can lead to several paths in life. "Bartleby the Scrivener" led to misfortune, growing compassion and a comparison to God. The paths we choose in life not only impact us but those around us as well. "Fixed fate hands out misery and suffering to some and better fortunes to others, but where both good and evil are essential components to the scheme" (Patrick 53).
In the debate with the critics of utilitarianism Mill clarifies the principle of utility, which implies general happiness. General happiness requires no...
The ethical theory of utilitarianism has one basis, one must chose the action that will contribute to the greatest good; the greatest good for the greatest number. In any instance one may ask, which action will make the most people happy and how long? As a method
“American cities didn’t simply sparkle in the summer of 1925. They simmered with hatred, deeply divided as always” (Boyle, 2005, p. 6). Life was extremely difficult for African Americans during the early 1920s; a period of time that was better known as the segregation era. In the book Arc of Justice, written by Kevin Boyle, the words “racism” and “segregation” play a significant role. Boyle focuses in the story of Ossian Sweet, a young African American doctor who buys a house in a white neighborhood in Detroit back in 1925. After Dr. Sweet’s arrival to their new home, he and his family suddenly become threatened by a white mob that is formed against their arrival. Dr. Sweet and his family face racial discrimination. Later in the book, Boyle describes that Sweet accidentally killed one of the white neighbors who was threatening his family in self-defense. As a result Sweet gets arrested, faces police investigation and gets convicted of murder. One may argue that all people should be given the same rights in order to build a highly-treasured and unbiased nation; however, during the early 1920s white American citizens were not trying to build a united nation. Instead they were determined to suppress the rights of African Americans. This paper aims to describe the impact of racism, segregation, inequality and racially-motivated violence that obstructed Dr. Sweet’s ability to successfully navigate Erikson's seventh stage of development and the specific ways social workers and Christian values can contribute on a community level to improve developmental outcomes in the future.
As a result, three general characteristics were constituted as the basics of his philosophy: the greatest happiness principle, universal egoism and the artificial identification of one’s interests with those of others. The first discusses about producing the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. Therefore, the utility principle is completely dependent on the amount of happiness brought about. It can be inferred that actions which don’t produce a content amount of happiness is morally
Nineteenth century British philosophers, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill sum up their theory of Utilitarianism, or the “principle of utility,” which is defined as, “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (Munson, 2012, p. 863). This theory’s main focus is to observe the consequences of an action(s), rather than the action itself. The utility, or usef...
Back in history when folk spoke of gods alike to parents talking about godlike beings watching a child’s decision making. Golden Mean motivates people in this time period by showing humility and just or risk facing the consequences. Golden Mean was an important value in Ancient Greek culture because it taught people to be balanced For example, in “Book 4” Proteus says “Ajax went down among his long oared ships. /Poseidon had driven him onto Gyrae’s rocks /But saved him from the sea.
It seems that the greatest-happiness principle does not only represent men’s nature in the best way10 but also serves as the best alternative to other moral guides.
One of the major players in ethical theories has long been the concept of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism states that in general the ethical rightness or wrongness of an action is directly related to the utility of that action. Utility is more specifically defined as a measure of the goodness or badness of the consequences of an action (see quote by Mill above). For the purposes of this paper, Utility will be considered to be the tendency to produce happiness. There are two types of Utilitarianism; these are “act” and “rule”. An act utilitarian uses thought processes associated with utilitarianism (i.e. the principle of utility) to make all decisions, this requires a lot of thought and careful calculation. For example, an act utilitarian deciding from a list of possible day trips would sit down and calculate out the utility of each possible decision before coming to a conclusion as to which one was preferable. Contrary to an act utilitarian, a rule utilitarian uses the principles of utility to create a set of rules by which they live. Rule utilitarians are not incapable of calculating a decision; they just do not see a need to do it all the time. For example, a rule utilitarian might have some rules like this: in general do not kill, in general do not steal, in general do not lie; but if they found a situation that might except the rule they would do the cal...
Classical utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory which holds that an action can only be considered as morally right where its consequences bring about the greatest amount of good to the greatest number (where 'good' is equal to pleasure minus pain). Likewise, an action is morally wrong where it fails to maximise good. Since it was first articulated in the late 19th Century by the likes of Jeremy Bentham and later John Stewart Mill, the classical approach to utilitarianism has since become the basis for many other consequentialist theories such as rule-utilitarianism and act-utilitarianism upon which this essay will focus (Driver, 2009). Though birthed from the same utilitarian principle of maximising good, rule-utilitarianism and act-utilitarianism provide two very different accounts on how the maximising of good should be approached. This essay will compare these two approaches and try to ascertain whether rule-utilitarianism is indeed preferable to act-utilitarianism.
that the class system is all in the mind of the beholder and how it is
Work cited Legge, James, a Trans. Confucius — Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean. New York: Dover Publications, 1971. Nivison, David S. The Ways of Confucianism: Investigations in Chinese Philosophy.