Philosophical Views Essay

Submitted By cler1627
Words: 2260
Pages: 10

1. To what extent do you shape your own destiny, and how much is down to fate?

(Conservative)
“We shape our own destiny. Everyone is born into a life with parameters that they have to work within regardless of how they feel about them. However, individually we decide what to do within those constraints.”

(Liberal)
“Depends on how aware the person is. If they are totally clueless about self and self-motivation, then fate pushes them around. A person who is self aware and motivated can shape their destiny and even handle large obstacles in their path, which some would call fate.”

2. Does nature shape our personalities more than nurture?

(Conservative)
“They both affect our personality. Mammals, all mammals, including humans are a product of their environment. Both of these comprise the environment.”

(Liberal)
“I believe we are born with a personality (nature) and our surroundings (nurture) affect that personality. A bulldog can be tamed to be less aggressive but it's in its nature to be aggressive, henceforth if the surroundings influence it to be aggressive, it'll be aggressive. Nature vs. nurture, and personality vs. external influences towards that personality.”

3. Should people care more about doing the right thing, or doing things right?

(Conservative)
“In my opinion doing the right thing is doing things right. That doesn't mean it’s easy though. “

(Liberal)
“Doing the right thing is more divine and harder to do. Doing things right is not always right even if it’s good. Its like finding this statement true which I don`t. "its not what you do, its how you do it". If I rob a bank and (do this thing right where I`m set for life) I am worse than the poor sob who did the right thing all his life and got nowhere. No matter what I do right with my life.”

4. What one piece of advice would you offer to a newborn infant?

(Conservative)
“They wouldn't be able to fully comprehend advice but if they could I would tell them to read. Reading makes people smart. Exposure to a variety of words is key.”

(Liberal)
“I would tell them to hold on their imagination and creativity as best they could, despite what they learned as they get older and gain knowledge. Using that imagination with the knowledge they gain.”

5. What is the difference between living and being alive?

(Conservative)
“Being alive implies one is replete or content (accept where they are at) while simply living is going through the motions and maybe not happy where one is at.”

(Liberal)
“Just being alive is when you are physically still here, but not necessarily doing anything too interactive with life. Actually living is when you see, feel and experience life, its challenges, and its precious moments. I am always personally trying to live every single moment and enjoy the life I've been given. There is a famous quote that says something to along the lines of," my greatest fear is not how long I live, but that I did not" live" while I was alive".”

6. Is a “wrong” act okay if nobody ever knows about it?

(Conservative)
“No it is definitely not ok. God knows that one is self-aware and that is all that matters.”

(Liberal)
“It depends on whether or not your personal version of morality tells you otherwise or not. Further, most things will be discovered by someone, sooner or later. For example, if you paint graffiti on a wall, nobody will know it was you, but they'll have to clean it up sooner or later. Almost everything that you can define as wrong is so defined because they have a negative impact on other people. Anything that has a negative effect on other people that is not counterbalanced by a positive impact on yourself and your local group can be considered to be 'wrong'.”

7. How do you know that your experience of consciousness is the same as other people’s experience of consciousness?

(Conservative)
“It is not the same. Everyone views the world through different