Underground Man Is Plagued By The Proponents Of A Society

Hsun Tzu's philosophy is built from the idea that human beings are by nature inherently evil, and the good they produce will only come through their conscious activity. Hsun Tzu believes that if man follows his nature and indulges in his natural desires, without transforming himself by conscious activity he is doomed to fall victim to his evil nature. "Any man who follows his nature will inevitably become involved in wrangling and strife, will violate the forms and rules of society, and will end as a criminal." Despite the pessimistic tone of Hsun Tzu's message he does propose conscious activity as a solution to man's evil. This paper will examine Hsun Tzu's perspective in light of both Mencius

Chiang uses Greco’s pursuit for knowledge to demonstrate the unethical aspect of heightened intelligence regarding greed. Specifically, Norwegian economist and historian of economic thought, Odd Langholm explains the risks of greed and mentions, “Greed has corrupting effects on a person’s character and spiritual life leading to vices that harm society and economy” (Langholm 271). Here, Langholm explains how greed affects a person’s psyche and those around. In the context of the story, Greco’s excessive desire for intelligence can possible lead him to harm not only himself, but society and those around. By demonstrating Greco’s developing greed, Chiang allows readers to understand that superintelligence can be dangerous if in the wrong hands. Chiang’s reason for stressing the value of greed is to help readers understand the risks human selfishness poses with heightened intelligence and to further question their philosophical views of superintelligence.

“The Cavemen in the Hedges” is a short story that contains many underlying themes of psychoanalytical theory. Themes of the “id,” a selfish, primal, version of one’s self concerned only with physical desires; the “superego,” part of a person’s psyche that is only worried about ideals and morals; and the “ego,” the rational part of the brain that attempts to satisfy both the id and superego natures make up an immense proportion of the breakdown of this story. Repression and other psychological defense mechanisms are also very important in the analysis as well.

Every culture ever known has operated under a system of values. Many varied on exact principles, but most applied the idea of Natural Law. Or, as C.S. Lewis would refer to it in his Abolition of Man, the Tao. In this particular book Lewis discusses the implications that would follow could man overcome this basic value system that has been in place since the development of rational thought. However, paradoxical as his opinion may seem, he holds that to step beyond the Tao is to plunge into nothingness. Simply put, it is his claim that to destroy, or even fundamentally change, man’s basic value system is to destroy man himself.

The Intuitionist, a novel written by Colson Whitehead, illustrates many aspects of society through the parody of a detective novel. Since elevator inspectors have no detective talents, the idea is just a cover, underneath which lies a myriad of the author's opinions on society. The book, published only in the year nineteen-ninety-nine, is filled with miniscule clues that pilot one toward substantial metaphors. Among these are racism, politics, one's place in society, and so on and so forth. This novel is an ocean of allegories in its youth, its depths waiting to be explored.

So far, the Underground Man and Kant are in agreement. However, Kant believes that the endorsement of desires consists of having a reason to act on that desire, a reason based on what we perceive as some good. The type of good is unspecified - it could anything from the satisfaction of egoistic aims to the betterment of the human race. What is important is that we establish for ourselves what type of good on which to base our reasons. Free action is impossible unless we formulate our reasons independently; more specifically, we must decide for ourselves what is a good reason for acting. Although the Underground Man agrees that we must formulate our own reasons, he rejects the notion that reasons based on any concept of a perceived good can ever really be our own.

The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright is full of symbols. The story is that of a man who after being accused of a murder starts living in underground sewers, in an attempt to escape the law. There are several themes in the story, however, underground life is a powerful major theme in it that has several meanings and implications in the context of the story. Underground can be seen as a potent symbol meaning an escape from the social institution and its bondage, as a relief from inequality and racial divisions, as solitude and self-discovery and many more similar things. Underground is also the stage for the most of the drama that takes place as a part of the story. However, underground also appears as a symbol of repulsion and revolt. Overall, the writer has used the symbol of underground to expose the corruption and chaos in the society in a brilliant manner.

All individuals spend some, if not the entirety of their life in what Socrates describes as, “a cave with a long passageway stretching between [them] and the cave’s mouth,” (Sterling and Scott 209). Cave dwellers find contentment in the shadows on the wall of the cave, never desiring to uncover the root of the shadows and counter fit images. They, unlike philosophers, possess little courage, and desire never to be freed of their shackles and blinders. Philosophers, the minority population of cave dwellers, are those prisoners who not only escape bondage, but have an overwhelming urge to journey outside the cave once they are freed: “One prisoner is freed from his shackles. He is suddenly compelled to stand up, turn around, walk and look toward the light,” (Sterling and Scott 210). The journey from darkness to light, as painted by Socrates, involves pain, confusion, ridicule, and sometimes death; however, those who journey towards the light ultimately reach a greater awareness of true reality, not the disguised reality of shadows and false images on the cave’s walls. Socrates states, “It is a conversion, a turning of the soul away from the day whose light is darkness to the true day. It is the accent to

Fyodor Dostoyevsky paints Underground man as someone who is tortured in his novel Notes From Underground. Despite everything that Underground man says he is lost and has no sense of his identity. When the character of Liza is introduced the reader gains some hope that the Underground man can find love. Although Underground man ultimately pushes Liza away, he really loved her through his own idea of love. Underground man shows this love for her through his first conversation with Liza, his trying to save Liza, and, ironically, through his cruelty towards Liza.

In his Allegory Plato shows us how a man ascends from the darkness of a cave to the light of the outside world. In this ascent Plato’s man passes through four distinct stages of cognition: from imagination, to belief, understanding, and finally knowledge.

The Underground Man did not criticize reason as much as he criticized the use of reason by his rationalist and utopian contemporaries. One of the things he criticized about them was their glorification of reason, which was not uncommon at the time. The Underground Man said, “but reason is nothing but reason and satisfies only the rational side of man’s nature,” (Dostoyevsky, 19) This absolute remark showed the Underground man’s though on the limitations of the power of reason, which the rationalists and utopians of his time ignored. Additionally, he said: “I, for instance, quite naturally want to live, in order to satisfy all my capacities for life, and not simply my capacity for reasoning, that is, not simply one twentieth of

In this essay, I will examine 127 Hours and it’s representation of the real life event of getting trapped in a canyon without any sort of communication to the outside world and without the acknowledgment of family and friends. I will use the analysis of behaviour for Aron Ralston during his trap to bring forth the film’s objective for promoting continuous faith in one’s self, courageousness and insurance of safety through proper communication. Such evaluation will be done through the usage of theories of Gombrich’s cognitive versus affective belief that states the difference between sayings and actions, and Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of ritual and neurosis that places repetitive behaviours as those of neurotics to withdraw from reality.

The Ubermenschen are supermen, they create their own sense of values and morals that are unique them. They have no god, no ruler, no one to control them. These supermen lay their own path, made of their own stone, through life and make their own decisions based on their desires and beliefs, and they do not conform to society’s standards. For them, there is no set truth or morality. However, these beings of a new self-awareness are not free from folly. Ubermenschen are human, and their mistakes are what makes them so much more

Plato once said that, “Ignorance [is] the root and stem of all evil”. Ignorance is the cause of everything that is wrong and bad in the world since people are unable to see the truth. If people start breaking free from ignorance, mankind will become happier and more transparent. In the short story, “Allegory of The Cave” by Plato and The Matrix by the Wachowskis, they portray the idea that in order to gain enlightenment, one must break free from ignorance; which opens himself to knowledge; this new truth must then be shared with others for the good of mankind.

In today’s society, worldviews are shaped by the cultural and ethical differences between different types of people. Cultural differences can be very complex but can also establish the basis for who people are and how they live their lives. One major complexity that can be associated with worldviews is the idea of a surface-level behavior with deep-level assumptions. This idea is the thought of many people acting just like everyone else around them, trying to fit in with society but have a deeper understanding for life and what reality is. Throughout chapter 2, Kraft discusses the differences between REALITY and reality, referring to the deeper understanding of life and understanding what is true and right. Compared to seeing the surface value of everything in life and “looking through filters” and only seeing what society and media has to offer. In today’s world people focus only on the materialistic view of life and focus on money and wealth, which produces adults in society that know how to think but not how to live life. Yet every day, people encounter REALITY but do not understand and often shy away from what is not normal to us. People in today’s society are afraid to learn new things, society focuses on competition and even encourages it, and it challenges boys to question men and businesses to fight businesses which leads to suffering society. The worldview of today’s society is solely based off of what media and technology teach us, yet people today are blinded by