Ethics Essay

[Bongfu]

So my ethics class is coming to a close, and our final essay is due. I wrote this essay in my philosophy class, and in order to save time, I am writing it for both classes. Anywho... My philosophy teacher liked it, but I have yet to turn it into my ethics teachers. So I was seeking some critics here on the TWC. Cause I know you all will give me a good bashing

Here it goes

Corey Lyon

Integrity

We were brought into this world to dick around, simple as that. I indulged in the pleasures of life, even its pain, enjoying it to the utmost degree. I thought I had found what life was all about, but the further and further I got away, the more I felt something pushing me back. Before long I was being drug kicking and screaming into some long forgotten truths I had learned at an early age. I never had the fear of god put in me, I never had any political sense drilled into my head, nor did I ever get any kind of strict upbringing with rules that guided me at every turn. Yet, something or someone was pulling me away from my reckless abandonment of myself.

“Am I really the kind of man who has the right to act in such a way that humanity might guide itself by my actions?” Those are the words of Jean-Paul Sartre, a French existentialist, who really brought out the modern age in existentialism. His message was very clear in that quote, that is, we all as free individuals must decide for ourself what our views on right and wrong are. If a man repeatably beats his kids, he is doing right by him, but if a man prosecutes the child beater, the prosecutions are right in the mind of the prosecutor. The one thing that never gets asked in court, is the one thing that would always make those who still value human existence change their ways. “If everyone beat their children, would we be a better society?” Who knows, maybe he will be such an avid kid beater that he would change our very foundation of ethics and we all would in turn become like him. Think of the tough kids we would have then, no more whining or laziness. What a world we would live in, but that is just an example of how we all formed our “right and wrong” universal laws that govern the world. Powerful people had powerful opinions, and the shepard made his flock follow.

So what made me pull myself away from the Hedonist world? Why would I not just be content with the good old “Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll”? One can fathom his own moral codes from an early age by watching those he looks up to. That is the way most of us find the way we should act, because your parents are taking on the same burden that their parents, and grandparents did before them since the dawn of mankind. They acted in the way they wanted others to act. They did right in their own way by passing down the values they hold to themselves, so that they may live on indefinitely. Since all we have is this life, man must choose how we are to be remembered. One of the most powerful sayings ever written down is the 77th stanza in the Hávamál, by Snorri Sturleson, in those lines Odin gave an existentialist bit of advice:

“Cattle die, kinsmen die
the self must also die;
I know one thing which never dies:
the reputation of each dead man”

So meaningful that was to be in my early readings that I had it literally ingrained onto myself, it is tattooed on my left shin. This view was perhaps unknowingly remembered by Sartre when he wrote about existentialism. When people act, they act as if there really is no tomorrow. We all want to be remembered, at least by our friends and family. So our actions speak our true intentions, and thus, those are what we will be remembered by.

So my feelings are constantly torn between choosing the life of the Hedonist or the life of the social rebel. If Sartre is to be believed, then I have spoken my true feelings on the matter already, in that, I broke away from the life of destruction and in doing so I voiced in my own mind the opinions that really mattered. So when Sartre writes, “In other words, the feeling is formed by the acts one performs;” he is talking about my choice between wasting away in life's temptations or choosing a self virtuous path of fulfillment.

Then I must ask why. Why my thoughts of honor and self integrity? Because this is my vision of man. I see man as an honorable being who will not betray his own virtues. That is a very narrow vision to some, but think of it like this. If a man is such a devout Catholic, and he is faced with an undeniable fact that God does not exist, he chooses to still believe and carry on with his faith. Some will think he is a fool, but he is being the exact man I envision us all to be. He holds the virtue of integrity above that of outward perception. What an honorable man he must be. It holds the same truth for the infamous Cuban leader Fidel Castro. He believed his people would benefit from the revolution and standing up to American foreign involvement. Even when faced with an invasion, utter starvation, and economic collapse, he continued on going about the way he saw himself, that is leading Cuba even into the twenty-first century. Kind of a laugh in the face to people like Kennedy, but he was an honorable man. In the face of a very global resentment he represented the one value I hold above all else. So again, I chose, as Castro did, to bring myself together and soldier on through what I believe is the right thing to do.

Once I was a poet, or am I still one, and it flowed through me like water from a hose. I miss dearly my Muse and wish for her return, but I know that in longing for her I embrace that I must go back to how things were. The life I drug myself away from is the same life that let me create such wondrous things as poetry. If I were to die tomorrow and someone decided to publish my poems, would I be the sum of my poems? Or would people look at the man, judging him not by the work he has done, but the impression he left on life? That is something no one can answer. I would like to think the latter, but more often than not artist, leaders, and ordinary people are judged only by what they achieve and not what tribulations they went through to get there. In the same way today we judge people not by their character, but by how much power they hold. Power being, money and stuff. If we broke away from that principle, then I fear, society would collapse. Politicians would be hanged, Celebrities would be run out of the country, ministers would be forced to stop preaching, and the country would be a madhouse of showing people their true colors. Thankfully, we live in a world where corrupt politicians can still hold their part of the reins, celebrities are the highest paid crack addicts in the world, ministers can use donations of buy their Hummers and slap Jesus' face on the side.

Where is this going? Well frankly, it is for you to make of my thoughts what you will. If it is one thing the little bird Sartre has taught me is, we all hold different views. To you, I could speak damn near gospel, to the other I am the heretic vying my time before I burn in hell. Whatever your choice, know that I strongly believe “We are condemned to be free” as Sartre put it. Man has the freedom to do what his wishes with this reality, but he bears the burden of people following in his example. Why was Jesus so great of a man? Not because he was the son of some non-existent being, but he came and said, “Look fools! We need some better code of ethics, and here is what I think they should be!” Well it worked apparently, as Christianity is amongst the big names in religion. It reshaped the whole of Europe and Russia. That is because someone came a long, Jesus, and used his choice of freedom to carry the burden of an example for man. He wanted to be the pattern from which all of us would be cut for generations to come. So what is to stop the child beating Jesus from changing our societies' ethics?

Again I cannot answer my own questions. Funny thing it is to ask questions which have no answer, but then again, is that not what has gotten us where we are now. Someone once asked me, “Corey, you are my smartest friend, what do you think life is all about.” I glared at her, because already I knew I was not the smartest amongst her friends. In fact I did terrible in high school, and I do terrible in college. However, maybe she knew I was a realist, and that I did not guide my life on the principles of some book. So I answered her with a smile, “Sex and sports.” Of course that is not what life is all about, and her stunned look did not get broken by my laughter. I added after I was finished being the only one laughing at my joke, “Life is all about you being happy. Do whatever you want and you will be the happiest woman on this planet.”

So now the final question to explore. Where does my sense of integrity come from? Sartre cites his views of existentialism as “Man is nothing else than his plan; he exists only to the extent that he fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life.” In my reality I see that honor is the one way to live my life. I will consider it above all else, and never falter, because if I do I have committed the greatest sin to myself and all humanity, breaking my code of ethics. The Ten Commandments are not the words of God, but the words of a common ethical code to be presented for the betterment of the fellow man by those who conceived of its possibility. People who commit sin against that code should not fear the hell fires of eternal damnation, but something far worse. They should fear never having a moral fiber again, for once you break one Commandment, or any other moral code, you are condemning yourself to committing more sins. It is a slippery slope my friend, and everyone these days seems to be sliding down it. Because it is a modern concept that we can all be forgiving for our sins by God, but we will never be forgiven by those who really matter to us. If I kill a mans wife, and repent to God in the end. God may forgive me, and I will save my soul for my own selfish reasons. The man whom had his wife murdered by me will never forgive me and forever will his hatred of me reign over me. So what is to be the greater threat? The real now man who could very well be out for his vengeance or fearing something I cannot know or conceive of happening? That is why, as Shakespeare put it, “To thine own self be true.” If you cannot be true to your own ethics, you are doomed to be a bane of all humanity. If you are a shining example of genocide, at least you are true to your own belief, and those that follow you will have an upstanding moral person to take after.

I believe, though this may be damning socially, that even Hitler was a moral man. Granted his ideas and beliefs were radical and appalling to most, he still carried on the human tradition of unity. He rallied his broken nation and turned it into one of the most powerful war machines ever seen. The German army was leaps and bounds ahead of anything the rest of Europe and the world had seen. If Hitler had held the virtue of moderation so dear, this paper would be in German, and I would be hiding in the attics, writing this by candlelight in fear he Gestapo might find me. Or maybe I would be a hero of the Nazi Union? My upbringings might have taught me that duty to the fatherland was to be upheld above everything. Then my thoughts would be much different. So I ask of this next time you make a judgment of a man, is he being true to his own morals, and if yes, you should embrace him as an upstanding brother of the human species.

I conclude that even in losing my past and all that went with it, my choice for breaking away was the right decision. I have saved my own integrity so that I can further prosper in this life. When I meet my end, wherever that may be down the road, I will do so happy that I am who I want to be. I will leave my example for those to follow if they so choose to. Though I am not a leader, nor am I very charismatic, people may come to find themselves in my same shoes one day, and think what would an honorable man do?

[Bongfu]

I actually took the time to make a separate, less sporadic essay. Because my ethics teacher is a stickler.

Here is my essay on Ethics for Ethics, not my philosophy class (Both papers were on ethics)

Corey Lyon

Angst of Self Control

A blaze of thoughts run through my head; My life, my fears, my will, my past, the choice, and my realization. I stand there waiting for him to walk out the door, wanting to shatter his world for ruining mine. What am I to become for committing this act? How far will my conscience let me go? I stand there, waiting, and the door creeps open.

"Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards." Sartre wrote this concept down in L'existentialisme est un humanisme in 1946. We define ourselves by our actions. We choose to accept the good choice or the ill choice. In this case, David had beat my best friend while they were dating. This enraged me because I thought of her as my little sister, and I was willing to do anything for her. She had told me the night before they broke up, he punched her repeatably in the face and ribs. I was even the one that took her to the hospital after her “she fell into a ditch.” I was suspicious but I never suspected he had done it. He had made his choice, so now it was my turn. The more I thought of revenge, the more I realized, nothing is holding me back.

I could choose to blow his head off at any moment, at the time, I did keep a handgun under my seat because I traveled in Dallas a lot. The satisfying thoughts of him laying in a pile of his own blood permeated in my mind. The thought, and the action are two separate things however. I wanted so much to destroy his life, but I could not bring myself to do it. It was angst, or the anxiety of being completely responsible for my actions. If I killed him, or even wounded him, I would be the one held in court, not him. My anger could not take my blame, I would take my blame for it was I who made that choice. It was this thought that brought the first hesitation.

I still had the freedom to do so, despite any laws, religious morals, or guiding principles, I still could walk out from the bush and beat him down right there. Just as I could turn my car into an on coming eighteen wheeler at the last second. Sartre said to a student who was doubting his decision to stay with his mother during the Nazi Occupation of France instead of going off to fight with the resistance, “You're free to choose, that is, invent.” We can be enthralled to things like nationalism, but in the end, we ultimately choose for ourselves the course of action. Sartre also stated “We are condemned to be free.” Meaning we are all free to choose for ourselves, but we bear the burden of that choice and how it may reflect upon the rest of humanity. Supporting that is his quote, “Am I really the kind of man who has the right to act in such a way that humanity might guide itself by my actions?”

I did not choose they way in which I was brought up, and my past leading up to this point is done. The effects are present in my thoughts as I ponder this horrendous act. However, I still have the liberty to do as I will at this point. I consider my past, my teachings, and all things that lead to his point, and it means nothing when I beat him down or walk away. As a child I visited a few shrinks and they all concluded that I had Hypomania. Despite the said mental disorder, I was still in the now, making a choice completely up to me at that moment.

I do remember thinking what another person would do in this situation, but I realized that I am in control of my own. If I followed someone else's way then I would not truly be free and living an inauthentic life. I had to choose good or ill without the influence of others around me. If I did smash his face in like I wanted, I would be living the authentic life of what I perceived my future reality to be, however, there was another choice, that was to walk away from the situation. Would I be inauthentic? No, because Sartre said, “In other words, the feeling is formed by the acts one performs;” In that light, I would have done my true intent by avoiding the conflict and consequences of it.

That is when I went into despair, or rather, found out that I had a sense of what the notion meant. I knew that I had to avenge my best friend, but at the same time, was I really ready to accept the burden of the action I was about to perform? The more I pondered this thought, the more I began to realize that it was all based on nothing. I was choosing to do it or not based on nothing but my own freedom to do so. There would be no karma helping me get revenge, no mighty gods to help me justify my action, there was only me and my choice. I came then to understand what Sartre meant by “...we shall confine ourselves to the reckoning only with what depends upon our will, or on the ensemble of probabilities which make our action possible.”

I tried to be rational in my thoughts, but even reason has its boundaries. If I went with reason, then my mind would have told me, the end justifies the means. So I would have beat him, and my justification would be I did it because he started it first. Then I would be following in his path, not living an authentic existence. He made the choice of using physical violence to solve his own personal struggle with his reality, am I to do the same? Is it really right to give him the same treatment? In searching myself I came up with the only notion I could see clearly, this had meaning to me. It meant I would avenge one thing dear to me. My reason clouded my judgment, because I was attempting to build structure in a world of randoms and irrational Others. It was just a random happening that he beat her. It was not in anyone else's control, especially not mine. So there was no means to justify my choice of taking the same level of physical abuse against him.

It was absurd to think that this was his karma coming back to get him. There is no karma, there is not notion of bad things happening to bad people, because essentially good and bad are as gray as the color blind man's world. So there I was, standing ready to make my choice as he walked out his front door that night. The air was cool, I remember frost had built up on my car in a matter of twenty minutes. I vied my time and studied his movements from the porch to the drive way. He got in his car, started the engine, then backed out of the drive way into the street. Not noticing me, he drove past to some unknown place. I got in my car, sighing heavily as I had made my choice, and the one that I still wonder about today. Did I really do the right thing letting him go unpunished, or will I be remembered as a coward who could not live with my actions in life?

Sartre does mention in his essay Existentialism, “Man is nothing else than his plan; he exists only to the extent that he fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life.” I will die happy tomorrow knowing that I have done right in my own mind. I did not let my emotion nor my ill conceiving reason make my choice. I weighed in my own conscience what was the right and wrong choice, feeling which one I believed was correct I acted upon it. So in the end, I believe that my actions then were the correct ones.