In Plato's Republic, someone asks whether a just person is better off than an unjust person. Socrates' reply: to create a context, an imaginary state, in which something like what the Greeks mean by justice comes naturally to people and makes sense in their lives. One might say cynically: "Plato has shown that just people are better off than unjust people in one imaginary context." But what we have to see is that Plato is setting up the frame for ethical thinking generally: in various contexts, various attitudes are natural, arise spontaneously. Sometimes, those attitudes are manifestly destructive. Sometimes those attitudes are creative and valuable. The moral question is twofold. (1) Can one invoke good attitudes in situations in which they do not arise spontaneously? (2) Can one produce enough of the right sort of context or environment to conjure up good attitudes, in situations which are overwhelmingly tending to produce destructive attitudes?
At minimum, The Republic suggests that the line between ethics and politics is very thin indeed.
Posted by shea0017 at June 23, 2006 11:13 AMWhen I apply my two rules to the twofold question, the answers I arrive at are 1-Yes, 2-Yes. Simply put. You will head in the direction that you are looking and you will get good at what you practice. If you want to change your life you must change where you look and change what you practice. If you don't have someplace new to look or new things to change to, you will fall back into your old practice.
In order to understand a government, buisness or individual people you have to find out where they are looking and what they are practicing to get there. Some people are more effective and efficient at finding practice's that will take them where they are looking than other people. EX: You want to be a millionare. One man goes to college and gets a Ph.D. and becomes rich and famous for his works. The other man buys lottery tickets. Which practice has a higher chance of success to take them where they are looking.
Answer 1- Yes a person can invoke a good attitude in situations in which they do not arise spontanously if the person looks for good things to happen and practice's being good...all the time. 2- Yes, a person can produce enough of the right sort of context or environment to conjure up a good attitude in a situation that is overwhelmingly destructive...if that is where a person looks and it is what they practice.
To maintain and project a positve attitude of gratitude and love upon the environment around you under all circumstances you must remain non-judgemental, never take anything personally and never make assumptions. There are other factors that factor in to all of this, like friction and momentum. But the basic idea is...You can do most anything if you look in the right direction and practice things that will take you there.
Posted by: joetheway at August 31, 2006 9:00 AM