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Modern Society Is Unethical Using The Emulation Theory

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Aristotle argues that the pattern of status competition in American society is unethical using the emulation theory. According to Aristotle, humans are the most imitative of all creatures and status competition is a cycle of mutual emulation. Emulation is a pain which is caused by the presence of good things that are highly valued. How emulation works is that there is the person who is doing the emulation, the individual who is being emulated, and then relationship between the two. The second individual provides a model for the first individual, who then decides they are similar to the model. Humans do not emulate individuals who have something that is deemed undesirable, the idea is "let them have it, I don 't want it." Because the …show more content…

The Joneses are actually salesmen pretending to be a “normal” family while those around them crave the items they are “selling” and eventually putting themselves in a serious economic/emotional crisis. This is an example of what Aristotle means when he says emulation brings pain, because one of the characters, Frank, ends up committing suicide because he gave into status competition. He did not care about his wife 's business, or the simple fact that he had bills and a mortgage to pay. Instead he kept buying things, much like the Baby Boomers, and worked his way into a debt that he could not get out of because he cared too much about his reputation and how popular he wanted to seem to his friends. The emulators, in the movie, are the individuals who set out to buy the items the family was selling. Aristotle also stated that some people are only concerned with keeping up with their neighbors, copying their every move. It becomes a life obsession, and that was the main idea of the movie. Aristotle believes in order to follow the mean and be rational, one must avoid excess or deficiency by asking themselves if they 're emulating at the right times and places? Do you actually need to consume? Are you consuming the right amount of goods? How will my emulating affect myself or those around me? Aristotle reaches several conclusions on virtue and describes it as a state of character, and what it means for a human to be virtuous. For example, "the 'excellence ' of the eye

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