As of just a week or two ago, I was secure with my belief that socrates was, for lack of better words, full of crap. Of course people act immorally! People steal, lie, cheat, kill, the list goes on and on of the immoral acts that people commit. Cut to now and I believe I understood socrates incorrectly. Socrates believes that no person will choose to do wrong, because doing so will in turn harm the wrongdoer, and no one seeks to intentionally hurt themselves. Humans have an instinct to act in their own interest, therefore nobody will act out of a desire to cause themselves harm. Even with motives such as stress relief and entertainment, we choose things that will benefit us in some way.
Morality is defined as principles concerning the distinction …show more content…
And he who knows how to achieve happiness will do so. Therefore, he who knows what is right will do right, because why would anybody choose to be unhappy?” which is something I do believe in [Gaarder, 70]. It is very difficult to think of a situation in which a person committing a wrongful action is doing so with no motive to benefit themselves or relieve their suffering. Take stealing for instance. While it is of popular objective opinion that stealing is wrong, the people who steal experience a benefit through the act of theft that makes them feel the ‘wrongful’ action results in obtaining something that will improve their lives. Even if the act being committed causes the person some form of harm, the person committing the action is seeking what will benefit them, and the benefit is perceived as being more powerful than the potential harm. An example of this can be the use of drugs. Drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and meth are known to do harm to people’s bodies but it does provide a high to the user, a moment of stress relief and bliss. The harming of themselves is a means to receive the benefit of the high. The drug user does not self harm for the sake of harming themselves, it is the effect of the harm that they seek. In that moment of decision making, the perceived benefit (the high) is more important than the ways in which they obtain it
Morality is defined as principles concerning the distinction …show more content…
And he who knows how to achieve happiness will do so. Therefore, he who knows what is right will do right, because why would anybody choose to be unhappy?” which is something I do believe in [Gaarder, 70]. It is very difficult to think of a situation in which a person committing a wrongful action is doing so with no motive to benefit themselves or relieve their suffering. Take stealing for instance. While it is of popular objective opinion that stealing is wrong, the people who steal experience a benefit through the act of theft that makes them feel the ‘wrongful’ action results in obtaining something that will improve their lives. Even if the act being committed causes the person some form of harm, the person committing the action is seeking what will benefit them, and the benefit is perceived as being more powerful than the potential harm. An example of this can be the use of drugs. Drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and meth are known to do harm to people’s bodies but it does provide a high to the user, a moment of stress relief and bliss. The harming of themselves is a means to receive the benefit of the high. The drug user does not self harm for the sake of harming themselves, it is the effect of the harm that they seek. In that moment of decision making, the perceived benefit (the high) is more important than the ways in which they obtain it