Des Pres, Beautiful Life - Assignment Example

Separate Answer To live according to the dictates of wisdom or under any dictates is not worthy of a beautiful life. There is a subtle difference between the call of heart and head, but this difference can make life worth living or a life drudged and thirsted upon an entity. Through wisdom and following its dictates one would be able to achieve many things in life obscure and can climb the steps of success, but the call of heart unleashes the stress at heart and makes life more worth of living enabling an individual to see the world under a benevolent light.

Therefore, if I needed to omit anything from Thoreau’s words in my definition of a beautiful life, I would have excluded the phrase “live according to its [wisdom] dictates”, while including other attributes like “a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust” at the same time, with a bit more importance (Thoreau, 1882). Des Pres envisions the human moral senses from the experiences of the concentration camp survivors, where humans were kept under most strict surveillance so far in the modern world.

Therefore, the visions about moral senses and humanity framed by Des Pres are worth of modern lifestyle. According to Des Pres, human moral order evolves from an evolutionary survival strategy and is definitely illusionary and idealistic. Worthily, Des Pres comments, “Group formation in defence against predation is common from insects to primates, and protective strategies often depend on intricate systems of communication and mutual aid” (Des Pres, 1976, pp. 199).