Philosophical Analysis of Donald Wurdock

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Part One: The purpose and meaning of my life is…to fulfill my life as a child of God. I have always been a religious person. My decisions and actions are guided by a moral compass and by the Ten Commandments. I believe in an ultimate and absolute truth that governs all humans. This is my meaningful philosophy of life that has been encouraged by my parents. After being confirmed, I took it upon myself to try to make this philosophy more guided by my own internal beliefs, and less to do with my parent’s expectations. I traveled on some youth retreats to find the center of my beliefs, and God guided me to answers. I now hold and can defend my beliefs and morals very close to my heart. I have very generically answered the purpose and meaning of my life question. But after taking this class, it seems that I took a typical religious approach of dodging the specifics of the question by answering that God is the answer to all. When I think the specifically about purpose and meaning, I ponder my life a little deeper than “the life of a child of God.” What is the purpose of my life? Where do I find the meaning of my life? Both these questions I believe can be answered more specially by the human connections I have made. My family and friends give my life purpose and meaning. I believe that it is a combination of my relationship and dedication to God AND my relationship and dedication to my friends and family that make up the purpose and meaning of my life. Without God, I would have trouble finding purpose to my life. He has a plan for me, and without knowing and believing that absolute truth, I don’t know if I would be able to get through the difficult times. I have traveled to some dark places, and God has helped me out of those by ... ... middle of paper ... ...r utilitarianism do right and wrong transform to fit the needs of the “most,” or are good and evil absolute no matter which individuals hold the majority? The questions were left unanswered by the research I conducted, but if I was to consider myself a utilitarian, I would hope the good and evil can prevail even under these circumstances. I have unknowingly been practicing utilitarianism for most of my life. Due to the extent of my ignorance, I have not been following the ethical theory perfectly. But then again, I think the ability to practice even without requiring knowledge beforehand is utilitarianism’s greatest advantage. The founding ideal of “do the best for most” is the driving force for my interests and connection to the ethical theory. I am amazed at how easy the theory is to practice and how many people most likely have a daily practice of it anyways.

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