The Illusion of the Good Essay - 1566 Words

The Illusion of the Good ABSTRACT: The question of ethics relates to the good and its contrary, evil. What ethics does with its object is to seek to understand it, that is, not to produce either the concept of the good or the actions that fall under that concept. Thus, the question that follows is: What is the good?, or strictly speaking, what is the definition of the good? But the definition asked for, as any other definition, is necessarily related to the science of language. But language itself is a social phenomenon. Consequently, the definition of any concept implies the quest of the social roots of this concept. In this sense, the quest of the roots is prior to the quest of what is. Examples are taken from Plato’s Republic,†¦show more content†¦And this means that the origin of the good lies outside the good itself, or strictly speaking, outside Ethics. Hence, we cant speak of the good per se, and if we, we fall into an optical illusion. Read the Republic and you will find out that the main issue is not about the definition of the good, but about the root of the good. The good is represented as the highest absolute end of all reality, as the One to which all the rest are subordinate in the sense of means to end. Thus the good illumines the whole circuit of humanity as species and not as individuals. But that illumination will not come about only if those who have the knowledge of the good are put firmly in charge of the machinery of the state. And the state is divided, in accordance with the three parts of the soul, into the ruling class, the warrior class and the working class. The state belongs to the first class, and especially, to the philosopher king whose function is to realize his heavenly vision of the ideal city. And this city, once established, will continue to be stable. In this sense, the philosopher becomes godlike himself in the sphere of politics. Thus, Montesquieu was right when he state that the ancient Greeks had raised the knowledge of politics almost to the level of a cult. Following from this, the ethical, according to Plato, is reducedShow MoreRelatedIllusion vs Reality in â€Å"Good Country People† Essay671 Words   |  3 Pagessuccessful stories, â€Å"Good Country People† was published in 1955. â€Å"Good Country People† addresses the of good versus evil, the foolishness of intellectual pretensions, and most importantly the theme of reality versus illusion. An important charac ter Mrs. Hopewell’s daughter Hulga, born as Joy has a Ph. D but seems to have no common sense. She allows her self to be tricked by a â€Å"Bible salesman† and gets her self in to a binding situation. 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