Notes On Philosophy : Idealism

Dwelling in the deepest recesses of the mind, hidden in the various cortexes of the brain, the fundamental nature of every human lurks seeping into the actions of the individual. Can morality ever dictate a society? The individual contradicts the group and morals become subjective. Morals form ethics, ethics form laws, but all must have nearly universal agreement in order to be validated. Due to this unavoidable variation of an individual’s morals the necessary consensus of morals prevents the establishment of a true moral based society.

God created mankind with the ability to make choices based on our own wants; this is known as free will. If free will did not exist, the world would be a very boring place. Imagine never being able to make your own decisions. God did not want this so he gave us the power to think on our own. We are rational beings and mostly make good decisions, but the bad decisions are what lead to evil. Consciences act like a moral compass in our heads, trying to steer us away from the evil choices and towards the good. Our consciences could be part of that small incorruptible good that is inside of us. Sometimes a conscience is not enough to guide us, though, and evil choices stem from our free will.

We, as humans are growing in different ways. Our technologies are reconstructing constantly, our agriculture is improving, and our transportations are advancing. But how can we improve humanity? How can we build a better society? In order to change and improve humanity and reduce violence, the strength of people’s mind is a key. It is dependant on our will power.

Everybody possesses an internal sense of moral obligation to realize the difference between right and wrong and choose to do what is right. Lewis ascertains that the existence of this common “moral conscience,” can only be the consequential result from the existence of a god who created all humans. (about.com).

In book one, Lewis explores humanity's conscience mindset of what is right and good, as well as, what is evil and wrong. Many people believe in right and wrong, but they don’t always understand

The American dream is threatened by the widening gap of wealth distribution, in which the few at the top accumulates 75 times the wealth of those at the bottom (Kochhar and Cilluffo). The ultimate consequence of this nightmare is perhaps the nascent inequalities in America. In the New York Times op-ed column, David Brooks advocated for assertion of acceptance and unity among Americans and the imposition of rehabilitative judicial system, so that the “have not” Americans will successfully join their “have” counterparts. Brooks’ idealism of a more understanding, cohesive, and equal America remains, at large, mere optimism in a hierarchal society, where the finish line is predestined for only a few.

In the article I chose, a young man made choices about idealism and in turn became involved in what could be terroristic activities. This young man was given a second chance and is fighting for a second chance for another young man in a similar situation. The author feels that since the mistakes were made at a young age and were made with the intent of helping others that the mistakes should be pardoned by President Obama. The author also feels that since the President has had people of questionable ethics in the white house, that he is a forgiving man and should take this case into consideration before he leaves office. Another reason for the author’s ideas come from Mr. Lindh’s mission “to be useful, taking risks to help people perceived as oppressed.” The author believed “he (Mr. Lindh) did not fully understand the bigger picture, was in over his head, and was overtaken by events.” In Mr. Theroux’s argument, he made several assumptions about the president and Mr. Lindh.

Jorge Luis Borges’ short work of fiction titled “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” grapples with many philosophic issues. In the main, this short story deals with the philosophic notion of subjective idealism as posed by George Berkeley’s Treatise Concerning Principles of Human Knowledge. Within this essay I argue that, while he acknowledges the presumed irrefutability of Berkeley’s argument, Borges’ “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” aims to disparage both totalitarianism and Berkeleyan idealism by drawing an analogy between the two via his literary creation of the fictitious world of Tlön.

They comprise of no more than fifteen to twenty percent of the population. Idealists are enthusiastic, yearn for romance, and dream of attaining wisdom. They are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. The quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination. Their quest makes them want to help others make that journey. Leading them to jobs working with people. Idealists believe that friendly cooperation is the best way. They tend to become upset when faced with conflict and confrontation. They dream of creating harmonious personal relationships. Idealists are incurable romantics, who prefer what might be instead of what is. Idealists hold themselves to a strict standard of personal integrity and suffer greatly when they are

As we grow and mature that sense of right and can be distorted by the culture that is around us if we decide to allow these beliefs to remain up to personal interpretation alone. We are born with an understanding of right and wrong whether we want to believe that or not. This is not something that we cannot say derives from our mind because it is something that extends outside of our physical components. The concept is that it originates from somewhere we cannot understand physically. This understanding of right and wrong comes from the conscience which we will never understand in the physical sense because it is not a member of our being in the physical

Dr. Kurtz states “Humanists believe that happiness here and now is our basic good; not salvation in the afterlife or the next life” (12:19-12:33). Dr. Kurtz believes human beings are potentially moral that are capable of moral behavior. Humans are able of making moral choices, being good and right depends on social conditions and moral education. He thinks it’s important to cultivate and nourish the young the capacity for morality. Under these conditions, Dr. Kurtz thinks it possible to develop a sense of empathy towards other human beings. He believes that what we ought to do should depend upon a rational investigation of the alternatives. Children should learn what they ought to do from experience. We should develop moral sensibility that does not depend on authority or commandments. In his conclusion Dr. Kurtz says that morality is basic to the human condition, you live and learn and you learn by living. Humans change from experience, we cannot look back at the Bible or Coran for guidance but look ahead into the future. He argues that humans need to use their intelligence to identify common moral principles to which ethical dilemmas can be

Peter Kropotkin was a Russian philosopher, son of a Russian prince, a soldier, evolutionary theorist, government official, geographer and economist, promoter of anarchy- communism. He wanted to abolish capitalism, the state, and private property and promote common ownership in production of industry. He left russia to join a socialist group in Switzerland, France and Britain. He wrote this publication, “Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Ideals”, in 1896 to spread his ideas for a mutual-aid society throughout Europe.

To briefly touch on one, the Law of Attraction, it basically comes down to positive thoughts attract positive life experiences, while negative thoughts attract negative life experiences. Multiple famous and successful people believe in the idea of the Law of Attraction, some including Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carrey, and Denzel Washington. The reason I connect to idealism and the Law of Attraction is primarily because of its limitless power and opportunity to be and become the best version of you without the world’s bias of what you should be like. (The Seven Universal

In understanding, Idealism and Materialism, it takes an open mind in reading the writings “The Republic,” “Materialism,” and “Metaphysics” from both Plato and Aristotle. Materialism, your mind is a product and part of the world, idealism the world is a product of and is just in our minds, and metaphysics abstract theory or talk with no basis in reality. I consider Idealism to be the best way to understand reality, than anything else. Think about a chair, what can you do in this chair; sit, touch, and maybe even smell in the wood in the chair. In our brain, we form an image of the ‘chair’ the issue in this is whether we can regard the thing that caused the perceptions as real or not. The chair is made from an idea and is formed in our

To live together beneficially, we must act decently or morally with one another. There is no social, economic or political institution which can exist if the participants in it unrestrainedly lie, cheat, steal, injure, threaten or physically endanger one another. (p. 694).