Hanging off a cliff, tied to an injured partner. Now the only thing that is holding them up is about to give. The only option there is is to cut the rope or else both die. Now the question is, is survival selfish? Merriam-Webster defines survival as "the continuation of life; Continuation of living". In the situation of J. Bruce Ismay, who was the President of the company who built the "RMS Titanic", many thought what he did was selfish. Reporters have scolded him for and accused him of jumping in a lifeboat instead of helping women and children first. Although he objects this claim, saying he did help, he was still called selfish for jumping in the lifeboat to save himself causing his reputation to be ruined. Again raising the point, is survival …show more content…
The obvious choice would be to save oneself. This was the case for a woman who was in an airplane when it crashed on landing. The woman described the scene where many people were frozen, screaming, and not knowing of what to do. When the woman realized "that the people around her were too paralyzed to react, she took direct action, crawling over several rows of people to get to the exit. She got out of the plane and survived" (Lane Wallace, 318). When the woman saw that no one was doing anything for themselves or other to survive, she took matters into her own hand to get to safety. If she were to stay and help others, she too would most likely to have died along with the people who did not take matters into their own hand. She assessed the available choices her situation gave her. In the end, the woman chose the most logical option she could have in that situation. Another instance in where survival was the smart choice in the case of Simon Yates, a mountain climber. Yates was climbing with his climbing partner when his partner got harshly injured. Yates and Simpson, his partner, "ended up hanging off a cliff, unable to climb up, and Yates, unable to lift him up and losing his own grip on the mountain, ended up cutting the rope to Simpson to save himself" (Lane Wallace, 319). Even though Yates cut …show more content…
When in a survival situation people will resort to whatever means they can, just to survive. An example of people resorting to their primal states to survive is the highwaymen in Alas, Babylon. The highwaymen have robbed many people just so that they can survive. They took "Doctor Gunn [‘s] bag with all his instruments and what drugs he had left" (Pat Frank, 260). This shows that the highwaymen have to resort to a primitive state in which they do whatever is necessary in order to survive. The highwaymen exhibit the trait of self-preservation, in where the idea of only one person or group trumps the idea of the civilization or community. Another instance in where a person resorts to their primitive state to survive is in the case of Julian Koepcke. Koepcke was on a flight when the plane was struck by lightning, which caused it to crash land in the Peruvian jungle. Many were killed on impact. However, "the others who had survived the fall decided to await rescue" (Laurence Gonzales, 326) instead of taking matters into their own hands to survive. Koepcke on the other hand, did take matters into her own hands and did all she could to survive. She walked for eleven days "while being literally eaten alive by leeches" (Laurence Gonzales, 326) until she had reached safety. This shows that she had turned to basic human traits with the idea of self-preservation. If she had stayed back and done what the other
In Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction novel, “Into the Wild”, he tells a story of young man named Chris McCandless. McCandless had grown up in a wealthy family. He was a loner, mainly because of his thirst for social isolation, but seemed to be independent. McCandless had given away all of his money, left almost all of his possessions, became an explorer, and changed him name to Alexander Supertramp, without letting anyone know of his whereabouts which was selfish of him. Not even his own family. He was also a highly intelligent man, yet he also lacked to understand something immediately and the knowledge to keep safe when it is needed. In April of 1992, young McCandless stubbornly hitchhiked his way to Alaska to live in the wild nearby Mt. McKinley. Then four months later in late August, a group of hunters sadly found his dead body. Chris McCandless was very courageous for his decision to go out on his adventures, yet he was inconsiderate for his lack of common sense during the time he was out in the wilderness in Alaska.
In conclusion, it is the innate nature of mankind to choose survival above all needs which brings out the hidden savage in all of us kept only in check by the artificial restraints placed upon mankind by society. The descent into savagery, man's inherent desire to survive over anything else and the need for civilization and order shows how society unnaturally holds everyone together. The aspiration to endure is an intrinsic response that may lay dormant until the chains of society and civilization are removed; when that day arrives, their dormant instincts will arise and bring about a regression back to that of a savage.
Originally, in McCarthy’s The Road, the readers are given a slight insight into the dark and disturbing nature of humans through the decision of characters prior to the unexplained post-apocalyptic event. For instance, the boy’s pregnant mother’s decision to commit suicide and giv...
Daniel Challahan attempts to argue that Euthanasia is always seriously morally wrong in his article, “When Self-Determination Runs Amok.” Callahan discusses several reasons depicting why he believes that Euthanasia is morally impermissible. John Lachs, however, does not see validity in several of Callahan’s points and responds to them in his article, “When Abstract Moralizing Runs Amok.” Two points from Callahan’s article Lachs challenges are the fundamental moral wrong view and the subjectiveness of suffering.
Does survival require selfishness? I believe that survival is selfish because in order to survive you need to have some selfishness. This is supported within the novel Night by elie wiesel, the story Deep survival by Laurence gonzales and the story Is Survival Selfish by Lane Wallace.
Throughout this book, the theme of man’s survival is shown in many ways. To begin
In “Life Is Not Measured by Grade-Point Averages,” H. Bruce Miller asserts that college students should enjoy and appreciate their education rather than worrying about grades. The article commences with a story about a student was accused of plagiarism. Miller then states that the purpose of college is to increase one’s knowledge so that they are able to obtain their degree and move higher towards their education. According to Miller, students are more focused on getting into the best universities rather than receiving a better education. Miller wants students to enjoy college and to not worry much about grades. Instead, students should focus more on the material that they are learning. Finally, he finishes off with the idea that we should take more courses that will be beneficiary instead of
Imagine walking home late at night. It is very dark, so its hard to keep track of your surroundings and you mistakenly take a wrong turn. Suddenly you hear the sound of footsteps quickly approaching you from behind and when you turn around you see an individual approaching with a knife directed at you. You have only have a few seconds to act, what do you do.
Luck is a very thin wire between desire and disaster, and not many people can keep their balance on it, declares Hunter S. Thompson, journalists, and author. There are multiple situations where people are trapped in the wilderness, some of them were documented in books, and some were in real life. Dogs have an instinct that helps them survive in the wilderness, nonetheless, a human may still keep their humanity, even though they realize that they could be trapped. Our primordial instincts take over when survival is on the line but, in contrast, humans may control themselves.
A human has a strong desire to survive and ready to transgress his inner borders and break his principles to save his life. There are three aspects of survival: psychological, emotional and physical survival. They are all related to each other and in order to sustain one has to go through all three stages. A person has to struggle with themselves: they have to breakdown their internal principles such as high morality and deep religious commitment in order to come through Psychological, Emotional and Physical survival.
Issues of Survival “We will only change if we survive, but we will only survive if we change.”. I believe that the Dalai Lama, in his book Ethics for a New Millennium, discusses many issues pertaining to the current state of our society that are of dear importance if we hope to survive into the next few generations. Primarily, I am referring to his discussion of happiness as it relates to inner peace, the acknowledgement of universal responsibility, and the need to educate our children responsibly, inside and outside of the classroom. The Dalai Lama makes the assertion that, as humans, we are all ultimately searching for happiness.
For most people, survival is just a matter of putting food on the table, making sure that the house payment is in on time, and remembering to put on that big winter coat. Prisoners in the holocaust did not have to worry about such things. Their food, cloths, and shelter were all provided for them. Unfortunately, there was never enough food, never sufficient shelter, and the cloths were never good enough. The methods of survival portrayed in the novels Maus by Art Spieglmen and Night by Elie Wiesel are distinctly different, but undeniably similar.
Selfishness is a term fairly notorious for its meaning. A lot of people accept that being selfish is wrong, but no one knows how this came about and why it matters. Who has the right to decide whether someone gets to be selfish or not? In his article “The unselfishness Trap”, Harry Browne says that the best way for people to be happy is when if everyone sacrifices but me. Thomas Nagel, on the other hand, argues in his article “The Objective Basis of Morality” that being concerned about others is more important. Being selfish, for many people, is evil. By definition, selfishness is to be more concerned about yourself than others, but that would essentially make every living human being a “selfish” being.
People think that they are pious, virtuous, knowledgeable, intellectual, just, and more but in actuality and reality are they really and how can they find out? This is why through the generations of mankind have been blessed with the minds of the “Great philosophers.” We know about the “Great philosophers” through documents or books they wrote or others close to them witnessed and documented. One of the “Great philosophers” by the name of Socrates helped out people he meet with asking them questions and trying to define words, adjectives, or emotions they thought their lives reflected. Socrates famous statement, “The unexamined life is not worth living”(Apology, 38a), caused controversy between philosophers on the true meaning of his statement.
If life were merely a contest with fate, then should we not think before we act? Though some may argue that the proper time to reflect is before acting, I have learned from experience that, more times than not, this is not the best approach. The ability to act on instinct is crucial to success, in many situations. During an earthquake, for instance, one must quickly respond in whichever way necessary to protect themselves, as well as their loved ones. No matter how prepared, or trained, one may be, there is no way to predict what the essential motions should be taken at the time of an emergency.