(no subject)
Kyle Henderson
Intro to Philosophy
Confucius taught a lot about leading a morally good life. The ideal life to strive for would be chun tzu ( man at his best). A morally good life is a result of virtuous behavior. Virtuous behavior is not only doing what is right, but also doing it with correct motive. We act with correct motive when we do something because we believe it to be right. It is not correct motive or morally correct to act in behalf of your own needs or desires. This is something I strongly believe in and back. I believe when you do something morally correct but only act because it makes you “look good”, takes all the moral intention out of the action. I believe you can do the right thing with wrong intentions, such as personal gain, etc. For example: “A man hears of the recent tragedy in New Orleans. He personally has no care for the tragedy or the people who were hurt as a result of the tragedy. The man notices that influential people in his town are donating to disaster relief, people that the man desperately wants to be noticed by and accepted by. So the man makes a substantial donation to disaster relief, even though he has no care or concern for the cause.” Even though the man did a good deed, he did not have right intentions or correct motive. The donation was only made because of the personal gain not because it was the right thing to do.
Intro to Philosophy
Confucius taught a lot about leading a morally good life. The ideal life to strive for would be chun tzu ( man at his best). A morally good life is a result of virtuous behavior. Virtuous behavior is not only doing what is right, but also doing it with correct motive. We act with correct motive when we do something because we believe it to be right. It is not correct motive or morally correct to act in behalf of your own needs or desires. This is something I strongly believe in and back. I believe when you do something morally correct but only act because it makes you “look good”, takes all the moral intention out of the action. I believe you can do the right thing with wrong intentions, such as personal gain, etc. For example: “A man hears of the recent tragedy in New Orleans. He personally has no care for the tragedy or the people who were hurt as a result of the tragedy. The man notices that influential people in his town are donating to disaster relief, people that the man desperately wants to be noticed by and accepted by. So the man makes a substantial donation to disaster relief, even though he has no care or concern for the cause.” Even though the man did a good deed, he did not have right intentions or correct motive. The donation was only made because of the personal gain not because it was the right thing to do.