How the Atrocities of War Exemplify the Characteristic Moral Ambiguity of Human Nature

First World War was unlike previous conflicts in its scope and scale. While previous wars tended to be limited wars, where war only consisted of direct combat away from society, the Great War was a total war. For the purpose of this essay, total war will be defined as a type of war that involves all aspects of society and comprises of both the destruction of the enemy by direct combat and the disruption of enemy resources and morale. This essay will argue that the characteristics of total war are clearly…

William Golding's novel "Lord of the Flies" not only provides a profound insight into human nature but also does so in a way that is remarkable for its use of shock and horror. Golding presents aspects of human nature as themes in the book. It alerts us to our potential to descend from order to chaos, good to evil, civilization to savagery. They are explored through how innate evil can be brought out in certain situations, the dangers in not addressing our own fears and the battle between civilization…

Machiavelli's The Prince: Politics, War, and Human Nature "[I]t is necessary for a prince to know well how to use the beast and the man." (Machiavelli, The Prince, p. 69[1]). In this swift blow, Niccolò Machiavelli seems to strike down many visions of morality put up on pedestals by thinkers before his time. He doesn't turn to God or to some sort of common good for his political morality. Instead, he turns to the individual?more specifically, self-preservation in a position of…

We as humans have an important role to play when confronted with an issue which is in any way concerned with our relationship to nature. Although we coexist on this planet with numerous other species of life, ours is the only one whose decisions can potentially have a significant influence on the status quo of the delicate system that is Earth. Our attitudes and connections towards nature are important because they directly affect how we will realize the goal of sustainability. Nonetheless, in order…

From the moment they are born, humans have a naturally evil predisposition. Although the term ‘evil’ is difficult to define, there are various views on morality. The most commonly referenced one, Moral Objectivism, holds that moral standards are universally transcendent, and that certain acts are right or wrong independent of human subjectivity. It is by this unspoken moral code that humanity’s acts are judged. There is some debate whether a fundamental human nature exists, as social and environmental…

Human Nature and Moral Theory in Plato’s Republic In Chapter 2 of Republic, Glaucon uses the Myth of the Lydian Shepherd to portray a pessimistic view of human nature. Plato, the author of Republic, uses his brother Glaucon to tell the Myth of the Lydian Shepherd. We are led to believe that Plato takes the myth and its implications on human nature very seriously by use of a personal character. The argument, originally given by Thrasymachus, contends that at the root of our human nature we…

up like lightning and pulled me with him…” (Chpt. 28, pg. 350-351) Also he was in as much trouble as Scout, Jem chose to fight the man to protect her, even though he was risking his life and broke his arm. From just those two quotes, you can see how much Jem cared about Scout, even though he had his “teenage time” and ignored her for a while. Another theme Jem has to cope with is racism. Many people in town are calling Atticus a “nigger-lover” and Jem can’t stand it. One of the incidences of…

recognized atrocity of World War II was the Holocaust, but the real truth hides much deeper within. There were thousands of atrocities that occurred leading up to the war, within the years of World War II, and after the war. Many were unrecognized and undocumented and the stories of the dead still remain unknown. My purpose here is to tell the story of the men, women, and children that no one remember, or never even knew existed. The Holocaust was perhaps the most dramatic and well known atrocity of World…

person like that has ever existed. It appears that it is human nature to want to pronounce others as either purely good or evil. But does everyone fit into the mold of good or evil? In Albert Camus's The Stranger, Meursault is a morally ambiguous character, and this ethical indistinctness plays a major part in the novel as a whole and the theme that Camus is trying to portray. Meursault resists being typecast into an archetypal moral category in many of his deeds and actions. Many of his actions…

How do we, as humans, define civilization? What is it that exemplifies our commonality as a species and sets us apart from the common beast? Is it art, science, literature, technological advances, or the philosophical mind? In the Lord of the Flies, Golding successfully unravels our delicate perceptions about what makes us human through a series of haunting and powerfully constructed symbols; among the most integral are the beast, the Lord of the Flies itself, and the fire. Through his narrative…