Philosophy - Part 1 Chapter 4

These are just my personal notes. I am studying Philosophy as a hobby.
The information shown on this blog may not be accurate.
(I may misunderstand what books say.)
Don't read my blog to learn about philosophy.


Part 1: The Nuts and Bolts of Philosophy

Chapter 4: How to Act



A moral act and ethical act is the right thing to do.
An immoral or unethical act is wrong.


Should judicial punishiments be meted out based on someone's personal circumstances?
Or regardless of differing situations, are there ideal standards and judgments that can be handed out across the board?


Are people born with traits tha cause them to act differently - maybe even immorally by some standards - than others?


Philosophers approach these and other questions of morality based on their assumptions about reality and their priorities as philosophers.




Me vs. US


Confucius
A Chinese philosopher (500 B.C.E)


Good Harmony

Confucius taught that people should act in accordance with what he called "the Way." The way is the harmonious unfolding of life, especially - as far as Confucius was concerned - social life.If your actions are in harmony with the rest of society, then they are moral actions and you are a good person. Society, to Confucius, is like music. All the different parts should work together.

According to Confucius, whether your actions fit in with society depends on what everyone else is doing. You are not alone, but are deeply connected to your group. Other people, then, determine how you should act.


Confucius also recognized that people can fill various roles in society. Not only did people perform different jobs, but some people were more important than others in making society work harmoniously. He was thinking of a society that is hierarchical.


For a peasant to act like a ruler would make for an inharmonious situation, sort of like if the drummer in an orchestra tried to play the part of the violinist. How to act right, then, depends on how you fit in with the rest of the group. By understanding how your group works, you can figure out how to "play your part."




The "We" Culture


Confucius philosophy, with its emphasis on social harmony, has been tremendously influential for centuries. The belief that social harmony is more important than individual desires is at work in many Asian cultures today. It also helps explain the focus on teamwork found in Japanese auto manufacturing and other companies.


Confucius's ideas are in step with a broad spectrum of Eastern culture, just as Judeo-Christianity plays a major role in Western thinking, even for people who don't consider themselves religious.

People in the West tend to be more individualistic; they tend to think about themselves as free, independent individuals rather than as holding sharply defined social positions. People in the East, on the other hand, are more collectivistic in general: they tend to think o themselves in terms of their relationships with others.


lexicon
Individualism
is the view that individual rights and freedoms should form the basis of sciety.

Collectivism
is the view that the stability of society is more important than individual rights and freedoms.

A number of philosophers have thought about individualism. One of them is 19th century Frenchi political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville. De Tocqueville said that individualism is expecially prominent in the United States where there is a democratic political system.

Democratic values like "freedom" and "equality" reflect Western individualism. These values suggest that people should be able to do what they want and not worry too much about what society expects them to do. This means they don't try to look to other people to figure out how to "play their part," but instead look inside themselves to find what they want. They also look at rules that they think should apply equally to everybody.




Me first


The downside of individualism is that individualists sometimes forget how important other people are in their live. We all need help from other people whether we realize it or not, even if we think we are independent. For example, a person becomes successful partly because of opportunities resulting from personal connections. If this person is an individualist, she is likely to overlook the social connections involved and take the full credit for her success. Not only might this person be ungrateful, she is likely to be unsympathetic tward people who don't have the right connections themselves.










not done yet