When in class on Friday, we were talking about the theories of Hobbes’ views of human nature. The thing that absolutely caught my attention when we discussed his philosophies was our quick discussion on Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. When we had talked about this I ended up writing about why I think people help one another out in terms of Hobbes’ idea of psychological egoists. My idea of this is similar to the ideal of the psychological egoist in that we feel like we need to help someone in order to quell our own needs, but the difference in my thoughts is that it is most definitely not a selfish / selfless act situation.
To my understanding, we slingshot each other by doing good acts in order to slowly bring one another closer to the greater good. The great part about this is that even the most simple of “selfless acts” can be put through this test.
As an example, there are two people in the given situation, person “A” and person “B”. If person “A” has fallen on the ground (thus being slightly on the lesser pleasant side of their day) allowing for person “B” to offer a hand up to the fallen one; then person “B” is offering a free ride on the slingshot to happiness. By helping out, person “B” has brought “A” through a very small level of bad and left them better off than they were before, but at the same time leaving themselves back where they had started in terms of happiness. This is just part of the ladder of happiness, and if we can all help one another climb the steep climb that has been presented, then in the end we would all be better off, wouldn’t you agree?
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Response to Isreal's Question
This is a response to your question: Should there be perfect balance between logic/proof and faith?
When I really think about this question, there is a lot that comes to my mind. The thing that really stands out though is a theory that I have grown quite accustom to in the recent years of my life. The theory goes as follows: “It is better to ask for forgiveness rather than to ask for permission”. This relates directly to how I look at the balance of faith and logic, for it allows an understanding and fairness to both sides of the argument. The logic side to this is that it allows for you to logically take in and interpret the two situations at hand before making a decision. However, at the same time it leaves open the availability that there is some faith to the things that you end up choosing to do; for in this situation it takes some faith to believe that you will hopefully be without trouble in asking for the forgiveness.
What I am really trying to say here is that there should definitely be some balance in these types of decisions, but that as with all things there must be some moderation in everything that you do. For without balance all things begin to get out of hand, thus leading a life of strict logic would be a life that is too thought out; and a life that is too faithful would be a life lead recklessly.
Do you agree with this philosophy in terms of true human nature?
~Alex
When I really think about this question, there is a lot that comes to my mind. The thing that really stands out though is a theory that I have grown quite accustom to in the recent years of my life. The theory goes as follows: “It is better to ask for forgiveness rather than to ask for permission”. This relates directly to how I look at the balance of faith and logic, for it allows an understanding and fairness to both sides of the argument. The logic side to this is that it allows for you to logically take in and interpret the two situations at hand before making a decision. However, at the same time it leaves open the availability that there is some faith to the things that you end up choosing to do; for in this situation it takes some faith to believe that you will hopefully be without trouble in asking for the forgiveness.
What I am really trying to say here is that there should definitely be some balance in these types of decisions, but that as with all things there must be some moderation in everything that you do. For without balance all things begin to get out of hand, thus leading a life of strict logic would be a life that is too thought out; and a life that is too faithful would be a life lead recklessly.
Do you agree with this philosophy in terms of true human nature?
~Alex
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