The Presence of Evil in Cheating
Some days it feels like if you walked away, the sky above you would be less gray and dull. If one more ounce of stress were to make itself pronounce, everything around you would come crumbling down. So why not give in, or even cheat the world for what it is worth? Seems easier does it not, but is it always the right choice? These choices can be the subject of your own choosing, with the end result not ending in your favor. Augustine is then questioned, is cheating the willful departure from God, signifying evil?
Cheating can leave a profound scar on a life, all for the instance of taking a mere short cut that was thought to be suitable for the time being. Yet, it is an easy way to find yourself haunted by the aftermath. Cheating can be found in families, school, and within the individual. According to Augustine, anything that has being is good, but a loss of good can be labeled as ‘evil’.
Goodness seems to be tested in all ways while attending college. One step away from goodness and it can ruin everything. From day one students are constantly told to not cheat or to plagiarize. These circumstances can lead to utter consequences but it is until the action is done that a student may realize that the consequences are real. Cheating should not be the easy fix to an essay that is due in a few days. Seeking help through means of another individuals work is plagiarizing. Plagiarism can destroy you and everything you have worked for. Individuals who cheat are not considered evil because of the situation, only subjected to a lesser good. “Evil will comes from a deficience of cause; it is the willful turning away from the good” (City of God, VI).
Everything God made is good, even things that may seem evil a...
... middle of paper ...
...and bad impulses” (Confessions, 10, 24). The body is being torn between happiness and stress. The stress is starting to establish itself as more prominent. So through the activities during the day, you begin to cheat your way through. An individual goes to exercise but doesn’t make an attempt to increase the heart rate, so gains nothing from the workout. Class is long, so you block out learning. So, you cheat yourself from goodness which can make you a better person.
Cheating is wrong and avoidable, but it still occurs. It may not be evil, but even as a lesser good, it still does not make it better. That’s why a world without ‘evil’ would not be the best of all, it wouldn’t be achievable. A world that comprises of less evil and more good is an attempt for which individuals should strive. A lesser good may be momentary but it seems as though it is always present.
When Professor John Doe assigned this reading assignment, I had really no idea what academic book would appeal to me. I definitely wanted to choose a book that would impact me in the long run and that I would benefit from. When I told my brother about the book, he said that he was just finishing a book called “The Cheating Culture, Why More Americans Are Doing More To Get Ahead” by, David Callahan. When he quickly explained what the book was about I knew that was the book I was going to read. I figured that this would be a good choice, because everywhere you look these days you see cheating. This book was published back in 2004 so even though it is a decade old, I do believe that many of the examples in the book are still problems, if not, even worse today than they were a decade ago. Weather it is kids in school, athletes, or the average business man. Everyone is cheating and trying to cut corners to get ahead. Nearly everyone has cheated in their life rather you would want to admit it or not. Reading this book, I was hoping to learn exactly why so many people try to cheat, and what alternatives people could take to prevent from cheating.
“For every clever person who goes to the trouble of creating an incentive scheme, there is an army of people, clever and otherwise, who will inevitably spend even more time trying to beat it. Cheating may or may not be human nature, but it is certainly a prominent feature in just about every human endeavor. Cheating is a primordial economic act: getting more or less” (21). This quote is important because it proves how everyone has cheated once. In many cases it is true, people often cheat on tests or even on their diet. Not everyone can live up to their expectations. Some may justify it, others proudly proclaim it, and others will try denying their cheating vigorously. Most people consider cheating as a bad and unwise action. In this novel, it gave two examples of cheaters, school teachers and sumo wrestlers. It shows how both authors can take two different people and still find something similar with both of them, like cheating.
Moreover, you look really regret for your fault, you hurt so much that "it feels like you're being slowly pincered apart, atom by atom" (190); yet everyone seems to be still at odds with you. Replacing ourselves as the cheater himself, when everything seems
The concept of “the will” still continues to be approached by many philosophers in numerous ways that offer answers to the questions as to what makes one commit acts that can be defined as virtuous or unvirtuous. Augustine and Socrates are two distinguished philosophers who, when read with the the consideration of the idea of the will and how it can manifest through bad and good activity, the people must be aware of the philosophers views for vice and sin. Augustine always writes with aspiration and goals in mind. Socrates states that sin is due to the wrongdoing of the individuals. The will for Augustine is separated from the power to act. Socrates does not have a sole interpretation of the will, he offers the belief that people do not deliberately
But research shows that everyone cheats a little--right up to the point where they lose their sense of integrity.” by Dan Ariely and “Why We Lie: The
When people realize that good and evil are just points of view that are placed on other people and actions, it is possible to transcend these superficial roles. Since it is people who create the meaning of evil, it cannot be said that people are evil, or are born evil, because not only is that a perspective that is assumed onto others, which will change with different cultures, societies, and eras, but the very same acts may appear to be both good and evil, depending on the perspective in which the acts are seen. Ultimately, it is the individual’s responsibility to decide for himself the effects of his actions on himself and others.
In short story “The Cheater’s Guide to Love,” written by Junot Diaz, we observe infidelity and the negative effects it has on relationships. Anyone who cheats will eventually get caught and will have to deal with the consequences. People tend to overlook the fact that most relationships are unlikely to survive after infidelity. Trust becomes an issue after someone has been unfaithful. Yunior, the main character in this story, encounters conflict as he struggles to move on with his life after his fiancée discovers that he has been unfaithful. Over a six-year period, the author reveals how his unfaithfulness has an effect on his health and his relationships.
Augustine, I found it difficult to suggest counterexamples to the given ideology because, for me, it is complete in its rigidness and integrity. However, I realize that as a whole this absolutism is likely to not be appreciated to the greater extent. An obvious criticism of Augustine that is likely to come to one’s mind in regards to his persistent unwillingness to admit that not all lies are morally evil for it is obvious that there could be situations in which a speaker, who intentionally deceives, acts for the sake of some greater good. This given example offers objections to Augustine’s ideology and could deny the absolutism expressed by the philosopher. For instance, utilitarian approach to the morality of lying would view telling a lie as a necessary condition in the case that the good received would outweigh the deceit. Similarly, virtue ethics may also allow certain violations from the general view, that lying is immoral, in case there would be a kind of a conflict between the virtue of honesty and another
People tend to blindly cheat to get what they want, and go about it as if it were normal. People don’t usually want to work for things if they can get it the easy way. In Stephen L. Carter’s article “The Rules about Rules”, Carter explains why Americans choose to cheat and how they don’t necessarily know right from wrong. Carter’s interpretation is accurate people do lack integrity due to having low self-esteem, and not having the courage to be different and separating themselves from the crowd.
The completely greed-based society is just but an orgy of sin. Extreme and radical changes must be made for one to be able to avoid evil. The human mind is very powerful and is able to distinguish what is good and bad. This is associated with the freedom to choose between what right and what is wrong. One can only control external if evil if he or she can defeat the evil within him or her. Confession is the best way to do away with the internal evil.
Augustine states, in his attempts to understand the free choice of the will and how it makes one do wrong to only suffer god’s judgment, this is something he does not understand why God allows to happen (p.113). Understanding he can will or not will himself to do things, Augustine’s question on the matter revolve around why he can do wrong when his wrongs have consequences. Augustine develops an early principle of the corruptible and incorruptible. This idea pertaining to the nature of evil and free will focuses on the belief that while god is incorruptible as he is all knowing, powerful, and good, however, lesser forms such as humans are easily corruptible (p.114). This principle enables Augustine to create an idea pertaining to man that due to man’s free will and powers conflicting with one another, this conflict result in acts of sin that neglect what is good.
Although many people cheat throughout life whether it be in sports, politics, or in school, the results gained from cheating is meaningless therefore, cheating is never justified. If there is a situation that someone is compelled to cheat, it could just mean that that person was not prepared enough to succeed in that situation. Because cheating is addictive, if one ever cheats even once, it will become a habit that is hard to get rid of. Cheating not only affects the cheater, but the people surrounding them so it does not make sense to involve others in your act of dishonesty. Cheating is never justified for it only proves the goods of others, could possibly drag others down, and cause them to lose what they deserved.
In the everyday world, guilt riddles us all. Perhaps it crept up on us when we “accidently” pocketed gum from the supermarket or nonchalantly stretched and caught a glimpse of another student’s test. At least during one point of life, our names found themselves engraved onto Santa’s naughty list. Every one of us cheats on at least something, and this leads to a question of common events in life. What exactly does cheating on your girlfriend and eating a donut have in common?
People say cheating has so many forms, but the worst one would be cheating in a relationship. A cheater is someone who cheats on his partner; someone who systematically betrays his partner either on a physical or emotional level. About a week ago I thought cheating was okay,but now I realize the harm it could cause to their significant other. True love doesn’t hurt, true love protects, and cares. Cheating can cause someone to have a mental break down, and leads to a complete loss of respect. When it comes to relationships, remaining faithful is never an option; loyalty is everything.
Therefore, neither evil nor good can exist without the other being implicated (Yamamoto, 1998). Evil and good is often manifested in the social environment because they exist to compliment each other. In the student’s social environment, maximization of utility appears as an intrinsic