James Rachel writes about ethic egoism and psychological egoism and the comparison of the two. First it is important to understand the differences’ between the two of them. Ethic Egoism is the moral theory that states we ought to act only from self-love or by a standard view of how men should act. Psychological egoism, in contrast, is a view that all men are in fact selfish and everything that they do is selfish, and the only motive used for acts is in self-interest.…
What is egoism? Something that Prometheus seems so interested in. Egoism is a doctrine that individual self worth is the motive behind all conscious action. In this day in age being an egoist is wrong, but in Prometheus society being an egoist wasn’t even heard of. Why is it that Prometheus writes down “ego” at the very end of the book on page 105 of Anthem.…
At times I ask myself, how can two people from different eras have such similar personalities? In the book Anthem, a short novel written by Ayn Rand, is about a dystopian society that is based off of the Council. The idea of independence and individuality is prohibited. Everyone is afraid to be different except Equality. Equality 7-2521 is a man that feels the need to be independent and has a quest for freedom. He is striving to be special in his own way and falls in love with The Golden One, who is later is named Liberty 3-5000 then Gaea. Falling in love is also prohibited as well. At the end of the novel, Equality is named Prometheus because they both have so much in common yet are different.…
In Plato’s Phaedo, socrates tells us his theories of the soul before and after death. He shows us that the body and soul are separate and the soul stays after death and lives before being born.…
David is the character I found to be most similar to the Creation. He was a robot created to serve his human creator and was very loyal. When the doctors Shaw and Holloway were trapped in a storm, he was prepared and more than willing to save them. Everything he does is done very intentionally, as if it is his duty. Like the Creation, he feels many conflicting emotions about his existence. He states that he is disappointed that humans only created him “because they could” and said that once his creator was dead that he would be “free”. Interestingly, David was not the only character similar to the Creation in Prometheus. In fact, I believe that the entire human race was portrayed as the Creation. In the movie, the human race was created by the Engineers. The characters in the movie want to discover where they came from, their purpose and what happens after death. They try to find the answers by seeking out their creators, the Engineers. The humans expected the Engineers would be kind to them, similar to how the Creation thought Victor would act as his father, but this was not the case. In a plot twist similar to the novel, the engineers are not proud of their creations and try to destroy them. Doctor Shaw is deeply saddened by this feeling…
According to Greek mythology, who is Prometheus? What does Walter have in common with Prometheus? How does this allusion help us to understand Walter's role in the family? How does this allusion help us to understand Walter's conflict with Mama and the rest of the family? How does this allusion help us understand Walter and the Younger family's quest for the American Dream?…
The concept of egoism is presented in Anthem, authored by Ayn Rand, using the principle that every man’s primary obligation should be toward his own well-being. Once Equality realizes what the sacred word to his society is, he begins to write about how the concept of altruism should not be placed at the root of a man’s heart, rather the concept of egoism. As Equality sits with his journal he writes, “For the word ‘We’ must never be spoken, save by one’s choice and as a second thought” (Rand 96). Equality believes that man shall not serve others, rather service themselves in an almost ‘selfish’ manner, with the exception of a man’s choice to work alongside other people. In summary, Equality believes that egoism should be the primary obligation…
In the reading Euthyphro, it is an argument between Euthyphro (the priest) and Socrates (who is being indicted by another man). This reading is a dialogue between the two men arguing on the same topic, even though they each gave examples, they still can’t figure out the answer but going “around and around” with the original question. Since Euthyphro and Socrates gave a lot of examples during the argument, I was really confused when reading it. I couldn’t organize my thoughts on the reading. However with the example of Euthyphro persecuting his own father for “murdering” a drunk murder, I start to have an idea of what they are arguing about, in my opinion, it is a question with no right answer for. No matter which answer was given, the result…
Throughout Greek mythology Prometheus is known as the fire bearing Titan who rebelled against Zeus and saved the world from his curse of a heatless and lightless punishment. Like wise, Equality in Anthem also rebels against his government in response to seeing the corruption within it. These similarities show how their lives exemplify the ideal of individualism. Furthermore, Gaea, the goddess of earth, is comparable with The Golden One from Anthem; both would be seen as the beginning of a new race. In particular, Prometheus and Equality’s trails and experiences correlate to each other and elicit the motives behind their audacious actions. Ultimately, Ayn Rand changes the names of her characters to Prometheus and Gaea as their lives parallel the lives of Equality and the Golden One both with similar trials and sacrifices for the sake of mankind. Prometheus and Equality’s rebellion are similar. They both passionately desire prosperity for their human race and are willing to rebel against a higher power to achieve it. Initially, their rebellion against a higher power is quite similar: “The rebel Prometheus, who had taken such a personal risk for mankind, now was faced with getting the fire back down to earth.” (Pontikis; Prometheus; Mythology’s Original Rebel). Furthermore, Equality rebelled against the higher power that threatened his humanity: “ ‘You fools!’ we cried. ‘You fools!’ ‘You thrice-damned fools!’” (Rand, page 75). Here Equality calls the highest power, the Council of the Scholars, “Thrice-damned fools” because they reject his offering to humanity. Later, Equality vows to protect his chosen brothers and start a new rebellion race that would be based off individualism and loyalty. He wanted to create a new race of humans, a race that would be superior to the people that he grew up with. He would add things that would make them like gods relative to that of the past humans, such as individualism and…
Intelligence is not highly recognized in this society so as to sustain the control the council has over its citizens by manipulating the general population to have low intelligence. One of Prometheus’ main “sins” is that he is intellectually above all other citizens in the society. He is punished throughout his childhood for this transgression so he would grow up with the mentality that it was evil to be superior and that he should not use his abilities. “It was that the learning was too easy. That is a great sin, to be born with a head, which is too quick. It is not good to be different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior” (Rand 21). Prometheus has always been superior to his brothers, but to retain the power the government has over the people’s ways of thinking, the council has laws that enforce he must be like his brothers in every way. These laws include…
"I am. I think. I will." Prometheus uses these words after he discovers that each man has a mind of their own. After living all his life using the word "we" he finally refers to himself as an individual. A feeling of freedom and joy accompanies it. He wants to succeed not just blindly follow like a sheep follows the shepherd.…
It's an egoistic way of thinking, because it asserts that the only goal of any individual human being should be to pursue his own happiness, and not to subordinate his happiness to the service of others. The fact is, in spite of proclaiming himself as a good egoist, he never seems to get over the whole concerning idea of helping others. The thing about him is that even after realizing that his own happiness is all that matters, Equality still…
As humans, we waste that is an understatement we waste a lot. We waste to the point that landmarks that existed before I was even born such as the Great Barrier Reef no longer exist. In Bill McKibbens essay “Waste Not, Want Not” he explains the effect of being wasteful can have on the environment. The are three types of waste that McKibben identifies that I believe are most harmful to the environment government waste, nuclear waste, and factory pollution.…
Prometheus Bound is a Greek mythological play written by Aeschylus. Prometheus was a Titan who gave the gift of fire to humans, fire not only meant little things like heating and cooking food, but it also represented a move forward for humans. Prometheus also gave humans the gift of hope. There is a man who can be compared to that of Prometheus, Christ. Both have mad an enormous impact on the human race.…
Euthyphro’s first suggestion, that piety is what he is doing now, is not only merely an example, not a definition, but Euthyphro is so pompous as to use himself as the standard with which to measure piety. Of course, no one person should be used as a standard for anything. Individuals are not rigid or stable and certainly not universal. He gives no support to his statement; he simply asserts it, as if it should be obvious. Socrates says that defining piety as, “what [ Euthyphro is] doing now”, is not a sufficient definition because it is simply an example of piety. Something cannot be defined by an example. Euthyphro cannot base a definition of piety on his own actions. He commits the fallacy of self-reference; using his own actions as the standard. The standard Euthyphro gives, (himself), is not specific or universal enough for others to use in judging their own actions. Therefore it fails as a useful standard of piety.…