The Various Philosophers View of the World, the Nature of Reality, and the Truth - Coursework Example

Critical Essay Introduction Understanding human choices entails a thorough understanding of the circumstances that are present and are considered during the process of choosing a particular course of action. Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors features interesting and highly philosophical situations in which the characters are able to represent ordinary humans’ susceptibility to make realistic choices that are either inherently good or bad. Allen is successful and effective in leaving the audience reflecting their own lives and the choices they made that are either based on a personal understanding and belief of goodness and badness, and the society’s standard of what decisions are right and wrong. Moreover, Chaffee’s The Philosopher’s Way discusses the various philosophers’ view of the world, the nature of reality, and the truth (51). John Locke’s Essay on the Human Understanding Locke provides an understanding of the soul as a completely blank slate; it is empty and hollow, and the humans’ experiences and senses can only fill this nothingness. This concept from Locke is opposition to what Plato holds that the soul encapsulates inherently humans’ sources of ideas, ideologies, and knowledge. Their somewhat contradiction of thoughts concerns our notion about truths and its dependence to various factors, such as experience, among other standards. Considering that we have souls that contain nothing, but hollowness and unfilled with experience, and the only matters that can arouse our souls are our senses, are they sufficient to provide the human mind with the correct knowledge of the world and everything that is in it? Considering that the senses do not sufficiently provide a complete understanding of the universe, it is likewise incorrect to dismiss their contribution to the understanding of things around us. In other words, the senses that generate specific truth are helpful in leading us to think of the real truths, and making the humans capable of reasoning in a much complicated world. On a basic level of reasoning, human beings now understand that expecting a different outcome using the same strategy all over again is illogical. Human beings are also governed by memories that help them in dealing with present situations that might have happened in the past. However, humans are capable of understanding that the outcome of a particular past event can or cannot necessarily be the same result in a present situation because reasoning guides us that sometimes, there are underlying factors that can change the sequence of the cause-and-effect situation that had happened in the past. The deep recesses in the brain are so mysterious that Locke’s premise that the human soul is empty and only the outside experiences can make it non empty, is self-contradictory. We can justify the stance by stating that no one has ever gone through a human’s memory, and its contents remain unexplored by humans. Since Locke postulates that people’s senses provide experiences, and experiences provide us knowledge, where does this knowledge go, and is it too general for Locke to say that the soul is empty without first relying on the inherent contents of the human mind? Mill and Bentham’s Utilitarianism Bentham, in his Principles of Morals and Legislation, conveys rationality in his analysis of ‘the greatest happiness system’ or the so-called ‘means-end’ rationality (Troyer 1). Other philosophers describe happiness as a goal, a result while Jeremy Bentham describes happiness as simply a pleasure without the pain. In other words, people can quantify the value of pleasure or pain depending on the “intensity’ and “duration” (Troyer 2). Bentham postulated that “the good of the society is the sum of the happiness of individuals in that society,” and that the goal of moral values is the “promotion of the good of society” (Troyer 2). Therefore, Bentham believes that a moral principle is judged on its goodness or badness depending on its capacity to promote the goodness of the society if it is universally followed. This is also the principle followed in accounting and other related fields that discussed cost-benefit analysis. However, it is also proper to state that the greater number of the population is composed of individuals who also have their own set of judgment. Individuality in decision-making is not considered in Bentham’s writings because it talks about a greater number of people who can benefit a particular action or decision. John Stuart Mill, on one hand, treats happiness in terms of aggregates, as opposite to Bentham’s equal treatment of all forms of happiness. He believes that pleasures concerning the intellect and morality are considered as superior compared to pleasures gained from physical contact or physical pleasures. Mill believes that the quality of pleasure is more significant than quantity. He also dismissed Bentham’s idea that pleasure, being a quantity, equalizes people because according to Mill, there are so-called simple and complicated pleasures, the former being chosen by people who have no experience in witnessing a superior form of art. Mill also believes that human always aspires to achieve superiority in various aspects. Nobody wants his or her intelligence to be demoted to that of the fools (Mill 12), thus, emphasizing his claim that quality is better than quantity. Therefore, not all people are entitled to judge one’s actions especially that not everyone is an expert. With that, Mill puts emphasis on the role of education to humanity and its contribution in making rational and sensible human beings who are capable of making sound decisions. Crimes and Misdemeanors Having stated the main points of Locke and Hume, contemporary philosophical movie Crimes and Misdemeanors project visualistic representation of great philosophers’ theories. The story highlights Judah, a successful family man and ophthalmologist, who adheres to the highest principles in morality, but failed to do so, Dolores, Judah’s mistress, Miriam, Judah’s wife, and Cliff, a documentary filmmaker who is characterized as plain, good, and seemingly unsuccessful in his craft. As the story progresses, all of these characters take a toll as situations lead them to make decisions that will reshape their lives. Judah: Choosing to Live With Probity Using Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative, Judah is caught between doing the right thing and the wrong one concerning his infidelity to his wife by having an affair with Dolores for two years. Whatever choices he makes, it can fall him into the category of being righteous or wrong because Kant believes that all acts are universal in nature, and we can judge them in black and white. The society where Judah lives, as he deems, judges acts based on its goodness and badness, and its rightfulness and wrongness. He lives up to an image of being a philanthropist and a loyal husband to wife Miriam while maintaining a secret affair to Dolores, a situation that is morally wrong in most people’s point of view. Morality steps in and judges’ actions as immoral based on universality. For instance, in most moral concept of today, adultery is wrong because it destroys a socially approved form of relationship. Although some cultures practice polygamy, majority still adheres to a monogamous relationship. Categorically, adultery is wrong, and so Judah needs to keep his affair with Dolores a secret. Another thing is the issue on lying. Under Kant’s categorical imperative, lying is wrong under any circumstances and conditions. However, as the story progresses, Dolores wanted to reveal their secret affair, which in turn, prompted Judah to seek for help from his advice from his brother. Dolores’ death ended Judah’s fear of being caught, but leaves him restless. ‘In reality, we rationalize, we deny, or we couldn’t go on living,’ Judah’s sentiment goes. In Kant’s perspective, Judah’s act of killing Dolores is categorically wrong under categorical imperative because murder is universally wrong. Bentham and Mill’s utilitarianism can justify Judah’s course of action in terms of the greater happiness it can contribute to him compare to the amount of guilt that he will bear if Dolores would have been alive. Under the circumstances of infidelity, Judah might hurt a lot of people, including his wife, the community, and his family, and damage his reputation if ever Dolores comes out in the open, but by killing Dolores, it is only she who will suffer and no one else. Lastly, by choosing to remain mum about Dolores’ death and go on with his life, Judah experiences pleasure and happiness longer, a measure that calculates a great amount of happiness. In the end, the bad ones in movies were not punished and did not experience a comeuppance. Cliff: The Irony of Life Cliff’s character revolves around an unhappy man who is relatively unsuccessful in his field as a filmmaker. His dealings in life were opposite with Judah who tries to control things in favor of his reputation. Cliff displays a rightful attitude towards life, but not rightful enough to commit adultery simply because he does not worry about his struggling career while his marriage is rocky. Also in Kant’s philosophy, Cliff’s inclination to Halley is wrong, considering that cheating is wrong under any circumstances. However, the moral implications of it did not bother Cliff simply because he does not care. The film lastly depicts that people who do good things are not always rewarded and live happily, such as the case of Cliff. The existentialist point of view suits best to Cliff’s character as a man who is true to himself and has no pretensions at all. His individual experiences shaped his understanding about life, failed relationships, and the reason of his existence as his line goes ‘The last time I was inside a woman was when I visited the Statue of Liberty.’ Under existentialism is despair, where Cliff’s situation can be classified. His failed career resulted to despair; same is true with his failed marriage, and supposed relationship with Halley. Existentialism also acknowledges that human beings act and make decisions based on the meaning of the situation rather than rationalizing everything. Based on movie, making decisions while rejecting reasons is largely dependent on the individual situation of human beings. Cliff has no reputation to protect, and so acts based on his will and emotions. The Rabbi ‘Without the law it’s all darkness,’ goes the rabbi to Judah. Philosophically speaking, the rabbi’s character represents the moral aspect of human existence. His words tried to shed light to the wandering mind of Judah. The rabbi represents a philosophical branch that believes in the existence of God. Based on the scene, the rabbi’s blindness represents Judah’s choice to forget about the existence of God and go on with his life. In other words, Ben the rabbi, is what most people know as the conscience. Rabbi is an excellent element in the fusion of the various characters in the movie who have moral issues to deal. In a real situation, such rabbi serves as a religion, which is most people’s instrument for doing things that are morally unacceptable and universally wrong. Would Judah be blamed for not following the rabbi’s advice? The answer might be negative, for Judah has his moral precepts of his own, and following, or not the rabbi’s advice is based on his understanding of the consequences of his actions. Conclusion Categorical imperative and utilitarianism can justify the actions of the characters based on the concepts of greater happiness for the greater number of people, just what Judah did. Moreover, categorical imperative can blatantly classify Judah’s decision is inherently wrong because murder is universally unacceptable under any circumstances. The truth of the matter is that, while there are collisions of beliefs among philosophers in order to justify the morality of one’s actions and decisions, morality is relative and dependent among humans who are rational beings, and whether our decisions are right or wrong in the eyes of other people, it still boils down to coping with the consequences of our actions. Work Cited Chaffee, John. The Philosopher’s Way. 4th ed. New Jersey: Pearson, 2012. Print. Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism. London: Bibliotheca Bodleiana, 1863. Print. Troyer, John. Ed. The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill. Indianapolis: hackett Publishing Company, 2003. Print. Read More