Heroes and Intellectuals - Essay Example

That is a question that haunts us all at some point in our lives. “Weve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. Thats who we really are.” (Rowling, n.d.) Those who choose the light are expected to fight for it at all times. However, is being a hero an obligation? It is really a choice. In essence, evil, obligation and heroism are separable in various circumstances and this explains the belief that no one has the obligation to fight evil whereas he/she puts the lives of the loved one in danger.

This essay seeks to dissect various aspects relative to evil, obligation and intellectuality. The word evil is associated with all sorts of bad things which may endanger the lives of people in a society. The question as to whether some people who have the ability to fight evil can do so even if the lives of their loved ones is in danger is debatable. Whereas I agree that, those with ability in political, religious or economic arenas to fight evil for the sake of the numerous lives of the other members of the society other philosophers such as Rousseau (1999), argues that there should be values attributed to any kind of heroism.

Rousseau (1999) asserts that heroism requires recognition of values and a cognitive decision to undertake the top most risk in the fight for the attainment or defense of such values. This explains that despite that fact that heroism can be attributed to an element of choice, the fundamentals includes cognizance of the values and the greatness of the danger. This belief can be counter argued that heroism can be justified not only by choice by necessity. For instance, if only one option to save a life exists then this is attributed to personal sacrifice.

In cases where personal sacrifice is foremost and the only way, then there is no aspect of choice in this situation. This explanation disqualifies the belief that heroism is by choice, because there is a possibility of making a choice not to save