The Good Life - Philosophy 112 - 1001 Words

PHI-112, Summer 2013 The Good Life, Late-Modern vs. Post-Modern Hart, M. J. June 16, 2013 Most of the late-modern philosophers took a completely different view of ethics and a moral society as their predecessors. Aside from Kierkegaard’s deeply religious views, their ideas were to get away from religion being necessary to achieve a good life. The emphasis was one in which people should not think in order to be ethical one must be religious. This seemed as if they were all of a sudden coming out and saying the earlier philosophers were wrong in tying ethics and religion. The post-modern philosophers pursued this line of thinking further, going back to the basics from the beginning of recorded†¦show more content†¦Elizabeth Anscombe’s statement, â€Å"Moral goodness and moral duty have no meaning in this day and age because they have lost the context in which they made sense, specifically the divine law view of ethics.† (Story of Ethics, Clark amp; Poortenga, chapter 5, pg 117) Her views further reinforce the overarching theme of the 20th century of analyzing how philosophy evolved over the centuries, and the belief that one can live a moral and ethical life without insisting on having a religious backing. Her statement, â€Å"And I should be inclined to congratulate the present-day moral philosophers on depriving ‘morally ought’ of its now delusive appearance of content..† (Story of Ethics, Clark amp; Poortenga, chapter 5, pg 118) shows her understanding of this. My last example is from John Rawls’ description of how a society should form from the beginning with his deontological view of â€Å"justice as fairness.† (Story of Ethics, Clark amp; Poortenga, chapter 5, pg 120). He described a view of making a society with basic rights and liberties for all without insisting one must adhere to any religious doctrine in order to do this. This seems to coincide with the overall view that certain acts can be determined to be either good or evil, without insisting on a referral to theology. Given my interpretation of the writings of different philosophers in the 19th and 20thShow MoreRelatedAyn Rand Anthem1250 Words   |  5 Pagesthe ideas used by Rand can be perceived as one is completely bad and the other good. One of the best examples of this is the extremes of caring only for the whole and the opposite of caring only for the self. Rand has extreme ideas of both of these and expresses them often in Anthem. These two ideas are the backbone for the whole story and deliver the main message Rand wanted to express. Ayn Rand constructed â€Å"a philosophy for living on earth† (Ayn Rand, 111) to abide by based on her own opinions sheRead MoreGandhi, Satyagraha, and the Western Mind Essay955 Words   |  4 Pages Gandhi achieved many accomplishments throughout his life. Overall, the most significant was that one man could make a difference within his own country that received worldwide recognition. One of the reasons as to why Gandhi was such a success is in order to be a great leader, one must possess a great deal of inner peace. He was very capable of doing so, and in return, the opposing side listened to what this man had to say. 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