THE GOOD LIFE essay
Since the ancient times the mankind is walking in the darkness in search of light, in search of truth and happiness. Philosophers of all the times promoted different ways to gain the keys for both of these doors, but still there is no single solution to fit for all. People have argued for long about what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false, but after all so many men, so many minds. Maybe that is the key reason why ethical relativism came to being. The position of ethical relativism is that moral judgments can never be universal; they depend on so many things, including cultural stereotypes, social patterns, traditions and customs, group and individual practices, that it is unreasonable to judge all the people with the same standards. On the one hand, this position makes us obliged to tolerate the behavior we do not like, even if we do not understand and do not share that model. On the other hand, this observation can eventually justify any kind of evil as a man conducting this evil may have his or her own preferences, reasons and explanations for his act. By contrast, moral universalism argues that there are still certain objective standards to evaluate moral facts. Maybe it is not wrong either to treat all the people on the earth regardless of their cultural principles, but still there are probably some general points which can be taken as a universal basis. Too much freedom does not bring happiness to people; the freedom of one person ends where the freedom of another person begins, and, as Victor Frankl recommended, the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast should be supplemented with a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast (Yalom 33). People should be provided with certain notions of how to live a moral, “a good” life, and for that prescriptive claims are required, and sometimes intolerance is working too.
Nothing is inherently good or evil, but people need some lightships on their way, some markers to be guided by. Morality has not been invented occasionally. Living in one community, people had to work out certain principles not to interfere with each other. Successful reproduction of the species as the main human instinct required cooperation and set of relative social practices. What is more, a man is not only a biological and social being. Intelligence and soul are important components of this being too. Already in 380 BC Plato wrote his outstanding work The Republic, where he has given a range of lightships for mankind to follow. More than two thousand years have passed, but we still turn to this work in search of answers. Plato for fair had a keen understanding of human nature.
For instance, in The Ring of Gyges he proposes a debate on how people make their choices, on whether intention for justice is conditional or self-sufficient. Having required a tool to become invisible, Gyges used it to satisfy his low-lying instincts and to gain power. This story is an argument to conclude that people tend to do right things just for their reputation, as the society has certain expectations, and when no one can control your behavior, you are likely to act selfishly. Still, Socrates stresses that is not the only reason. Moral anxiety is often much stronger than the social stereotypes. Sometimes, of course, people loose those lightships and physical being is the only sphere they live in, and they experience moral degradation. But the matter is even when the moral law is strong in us we tend to find explanations for our actions. They may be not right objectively, but for us they are motivated, and that is where ethic relativism is revealed. On the other hand, Victor Frankl has demonstrated how strong a human being can be is he or she is supported by moral basis in extremely hard circumstances. Only rigid moral rod can help a person to retain the feeling of self-worth and self-dignity, notwithstanding constant ruining factors.
Another curious peculiarity of our world view is demonstrated in The Cave of Ignorance. Plato underlines that common people tend to live in a dark cave chained to the wall and seeing no the light of day. Instead, they see the shadows on the walls and tend to accept them as reality. But all they have are illusions, the delusions of their minds, of their imagination. Only getting free from the chains and reaching the outer world can become the way to truth. A keen philosopher is able to do it, and the sunlight of truth presents itself to him. It means that when we concentrate on creature comforts, for example, we are critically restricted in our world view and we do not move anywhere at all. On the one hand, it sometimes seems more comfortable to sit in the darkness and to believe those things we are disposed to. On the other hand, when you make mistake after mistake and can’t find peace with your soul, you get a strong desire to understand the things the way they really are. That is when the reality out of the cave becomes truly valuable.
To go further, a significant driving force for escaping evil and falsity is a fear of afterlife punishment. Mane religions present pictures of life after death, and people are warned that all their deeds will be judged. Alike, in Plato’s Myth of Er we get acquainted with the travelling of Odysseus’ soul after death. It is stressed that right behavior leads to wider possibilities for future life, while wrong living leads to tortures. The story sounds rather convincing for one to think over his behavior and morality. In this or that way we bear a kind of prosecutor inside of us every day, and even when no one sees us, this prosecutor talks to us and warns about probable punishment afterwards.
Finally, for keeping moral purity one needs not only fear, but also encouragement and faith. Only faith can save a person from finite failure and degradation, and it is eloquently shown in Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. Even when there is no light in life it all, and all the world is against you, there is a need to stand and to search for sense to go on living. When such a stimulus cannot be found outside, it is reasonable to search inside. A human being bears a lot of treasures within his soul, and if we do not ruin the temple of our inner world, if we keep believing and stay honest, this temple will shelter us whatever outside and eventually provide the Good Life.
