Nothing Can Be Good or Evil in Itself Essay -- Philosophy essays

Nothing Can Be Good or Evil in Itself Truth, beauty, and virtuousness are not eternal, objective realities which man discovers, but are the creative products of the human mind as it exercises its will-to-power. In other words, man is a cause of values. (Nietzsche) So what is good and infernal, but that defined by man and therefore a purely subjective concept. Could we, society, have one without the other? By determine what is good, we in turn determine what is evil. How do we know what they are that is if they really exist? One must first try to define what good and evil are before attempting to question their existence. What is good? Is it the selfless act of a volunteer at a homeless shelter or an honest and dependable taxpaying citizen? Websters dictionary defines good as being of favorable character, whole close to, and virtuous. (Merriam-Webster) A good will is not good because of what it effects or accomplishes--because of its fitness for attaining some proposed end it is good through its willing alone-that is, good in itself. (Kant) In essence, the traditional sense of good is an act done only with the benefit of others in mind rather than for ones own personal interests. However, for society to view this as good, an act must be intended to benefit society as a whole as well. Dr. Martin Luther powers speech, I Have A Dream, is an excellent example of a good will affecting the society as a whole. King believed that the struggle for civil rights was a part of a larger struggle in which the forces of liberty and individuality, the forces of righteousness, would triumph over the forces of oppression and prejudice, the forces of ignorance. (King) He stressed freedom as a right, as an overall good... .... I Have A Dream. The Twentieth Century Mirrors of Mind. Second Edition, Revised. Winston-Salem, North Carolina Hunter Books, Incorporated, 1991.pp 138-140. Merriam-Webster of America. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts Merria m-Webster, Incorporated, 1997. pp 325-326. Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism. school of thought A Literary and Conceptual Approach. Third Edition. New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Incorporated, 1995. pp 306-319. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. The Twentieth Century Mirrors of Mind. Second Edition, Revised. Winston-Salem, North Carolina Hunter Books, Incorporated, 1991. pp 16-20. Sartre, Jean-Paul. The Humanism of Existentialism. philosophy A Literary and Conceptual Approach. Third Edition. New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Incorporated, 1995. pp 434-443.