See attched Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

See attched - Essay Example The moral law is based â€Å"not in the nature of man, nor in the circumstances of the world in which man is placed, but †¦. A priori solely in the concepts of pure reason.†2 The categorical imperatives of Kant demand us not to tell a lie even when the life of someone may be at risk due to our rigid adherence to the moral rules.3 Helga and Springer have pointed out another outcome of the traditional rules of morality, that is, some feminists have started demanding the moral laws to be based on emotions and personal relationships. According to them, the traditional approach of moral rules places too much emphasis on abstract principles and the role of reason. Though both the views have some weight and there is also some room for criticism on the Kantian morality as well as the feminist approach of ethics of care and emotions, moral theory certainly should be based on rules. The main criticism of the moral theory based on rules is that these rules restrict our actions to do good which have good consequences. The human nature resists such restrictions and seeks liberty and freedom to do what pleases it. As the end of morality is to give happiness to the humanity, this happiness individual wish to seek through doing things according to their instincts rather than guided by some set of rules. That is why; the rules of morality often fail to bind human being to do good according to the set of rules. However, it is wrong to say that our ethical values should be based on our feelings more than the rules. Certainly, rules of morality provide us guidelines to do certain things and help us become civilized. For example, if people are let to do thi ngs instinctively, they would start fighting with other human beings just for the sake of their own pleasure. And if people are guided by their own feelings, they would prefer to do things according to what gratifies them rather than what is based on rational and reason. For instance, it is my feeling sometime that the

Comparing Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Comparing Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau - Essay Example One of the key problems involved in the debate on justification of political authority is the balance between limitations imposed by any political authority and individual freedom. On the one hand, freedom is exceptionally important to the life of a person in many senses. On the other hand, an individual can not be allowed to act solely at his or her will: there must be certain rules for behavior. Establishing this balance between individual freedom and interests of the community is the key task of any state and government which acts like a stabilizer. In case this balance is in place, the highest level of individual freedom is achieved while the risk of falling into total anarchy is avoided (Popper, 1985). According to Thomas Hobbes, in prehistoric uncivilized times before any sort of government emerged, there was constant war with â€Å"every man, against every man† (Hobbes, 1668, p.12). Consequently, Hobbesian justification of authority logically followed from the total brutality of human beings in their natural state characterized by intolerance: submission to authority was the only way to eliminate the brutality and intolerance of the State of Nature (Hobbes, 1668). By contrast, John Locke believed that the original state of man was not as hostile as Hobbes thought. In Locke’s opinion happiness, reason and tolerance were the core characteristics of the natural man, and all humans, in their original state, were equal and absolutely free to pursue things, considered as indisputable rights, namely â€Å"†¦life, health, liberty and possessions† (Locke, 1990, par. 6). However, Locke’s State of Nature is not chaotic with every individual pursuing its own egoistic goals. Despite absence of any authority or government with the power to punish the subjects for wrong actions, Locke believed that the State of Nature was effectively regulated by morality. Since all human beings in the