Philosophy, Hume An Enquiry Concerning The Principles Of Morals What I

Philosophy, Hume An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals What is a moral? This is a question that has plagued philosophers for many years. Is it possible to have a set of universal morals? There are many questions that surround the mystery of morals. They seem to drive our every action. We base our decisions on what is right and what is wrong. But what is it that actually determines what is right and what is wrong? Is it our sense of reason? Is it our sense of sentiment? This is a question that David Hume spent much of his life pondering. What exactly is it that drives our actions? Yes, morals drive them, but what determines what our morals are? What is it that ultimately drives our actions; our feelings or our minds? Hume would say that it is our sentiment that ultimately drives our actions. According to Hume, reason is incapable of motivating an action. According to Hume, reason cannot fuel an action and therefore cannot motivate it. Hume feel that all actions are motivated by our sentiment. For example, on page 84 Appendix I, he gives the example of a criminal. "It resides in the mind of the person, who is ungrateful. He must, therefore, feel it, and be conscious of it." Here, it is evident that Hume is saying that unless the person, or criminal in this case, sincerely believes in what he wants to do, he will not be able to motivate the action. In other words, unless the sentiment is there, the action cannot be willed into being. Hence, the sentiment is the driving force behind the action. Hume does not however say that reason is incapable of determining wether an action is virtuous or vicious (moral or immoral), but instead he tries to say that the reason for the morality of an action does not dictate the execution or perversion of an act so far as determination of wether the action is executed or not. In simpler terms, reason has it's place in determining morality, but it is not in the motivation of an action. Motivation must come from the heart, or better yet, from within the person; from their beliefs. Reason merely allows the person to make moral distinctions. Without reason, there would be no morality. Without reason, one moral clause would not be differentiable from another. That is to say that below all morals, there must be some underlying truth because "Truth is disputable; not taste" (p.14). If truth were not disputable, there would be no way to prove that a truth was just that... a truth. To make an analogy to mathematics, truth is a function of reason, whereas taste is a function of sentiment. Sentiment is a function of the individual whereas reason is a function of the universe. The universe as a whole must follow reason, but the catch is that each individual's universe is slightly different in that each individual perceives his or her universe differently. "What each man feels within himself is the standard of sentiment." (p.14) That is to say each person's individual universe has truths. These truths are ba sed on reason. These truths/reasons are what help to determine the person's sentiment. However, it should be noted that because the reasons are NOT necessarily the person's sentiments, they do not motivate actions. One other reason why reason does not impel action is because reason is based on truths. Truths are never changing whereas sentiments are dynamic and are in a constant change of flux. At one moment, the criminal could feel sympathy for his victims and decide to spare a life, and the very next, the same criminal could become enraged at the pimple on a hostage's forehead and shoot him. Of course these are extreme cases, but the point is clear. Reason would dictate that only the first action would be moral. If reason drove actions, then moral behavior would prevail and there would be no immoral actions and hence there would be no crimes. This shows how sentiments can change as the individual's perception of the universe changes. Obviously, the driving force behind the crimin al shooting the victim because of a skin blemish is

American Literature Essay Topics - Creating Your Own Style

American Literature Essay Topics - Creating Your Own StyleLiterature essay topics are of great importance to writers in this country. In the U.S., writing your own works can be an important part of you having a life and a career. In fact, it is also a great way for individuals who cannot yet write well to get some confidence. Most students in the U.S. write their own works each year and some have done so for years.In fact, even before they are allowed to start college, students usually begin working on short stories and even novels. Writing is a passion for many American writers. It is a great way to express themselves. However, it can also prove to be a skill that must be mastered. Here are some ways for you to learn how to effectively write an American literature essay topic.Learning how to create an American literature essay topics means that you will need to develop your own style of writing. It will not be difficult for you to write a short story or even a novel, but it will be more difficult to find a style that is going to be fitting for your topic. Because this style may vary from essay to essay, you will have to start making your own style as a writer.This style is one that uses a theme of commonalities between the main characters. You will want to use as much information from the book as possible, but you must write in a way that allows readers to relate to the characters. The focus should not be on telling the story or what happened; the focus should be on why it happened.A fiction style essay will have more information than a literary style essay. Be sure to include as much information as possible so that readers can better understand the book and what happened in the book.In addition to creating an American literature essay topics, you will also want to use your writing skills. In the process of writing your short story or novel, you will want to make use of examples and analogies. You should also be able to use multiple writers and fictional chara cters. You will have to use these things throughout your essay to help you explain the book and give readers a chance to connect with your story.Learning how to write an American literature essay topics can help you gain confidence as a writer. It will also help you discover what sort of topics you want to write about as you continue to study English at college.