Justice

When I think of justice I think of fairness, especially when pertaining to law. If someone commits a bad action they should pay the consequences for it. This can be done by serving jail time or some other type of punishment. This makes the system seem fair because people can't just get away with murder or theft free of consequence. If there were no negative consequences for people's actions then the world would be in complete chaos. With this punishment system, people are kept in line with the law because they don't want to go to jail and suffer for what they did. Therefore the concept of justice is fairness and doing what is right. Another example is gay marriage. Why should the government decide who and who can't love each other and be married under the law. There is supposed to be a separation between church and state. The fact that people can not get married to who they truly love, is in my opinion, very unjust.

Why do people believe what they see and hear? and Why are some people afraid to emerge from their "caves?"

People believe what they see and hear because they trust their senses. They think that since they saw something happen right in front of their eyes that it is automatically and inevitably real. This can be proved wrong as seen with magicians. Even if people see something happen, it doesn't mean that it can necessarily be understood. In today's society it is bluntly obvious that people can not believe what they hear because large quantities of the information are fabricated. Just look at what is spoken about on gossip TV shows, not everything can be so dramatic and it is often over exaggerated for the affect on the audience and the viewers.

People believe in what they know and what they are used to and have been conditioned to their entire lives. They don't want to believe in specific things because it is out of the norm and possibly out of their comfort zone. They have been conformed to their little bubble they live in, and if exposed to the truth, wouldn't know what to do. Their comfort zone is referred to as their "cave." They want to stay in them because it is what is familiar to them and a lot of people do not like change. Examples of this are the stories where a woman marries a man and ends up finding out he is cheating on her. Many people don't want to believe this or even confront the issue, so they gravitate away from the signs of infidelity until it must absolutely come out. Sometimes, the truth is too much for people to handle, therefore, making them more magnetically pulled toward their cave.

Reading Response

Is the piece of furniture real? How do you know if it's real or not? Explain your reasoning.

The piece of furniture in front of me right now is a desk. I know it is real because I can tangibly feel it. It is smooth and hard. I know that if and when I leave the room it will still be there. Just because I leave doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Objects around the world exist even, when you don't think they do.

Therefore, I know the object is real because I have experienced certainties and realities of the object. Yes, the table looks different to each person who sees it from different views, but it is still always going to be the same table and made up of the same matter.

Morals

Ethics of care is one of the closest branches that I think represents my moral character. I care a lot about others and try very hard to put them before myself. This ethical view branches off from virtue ethics which has a great emphasis on moral character and how you treat other people. My religious backround considerably influences my moral views. I was rasied Christian by my parents and they always drilled into my head that you always have respect and care for everyone until they do something to lose it.

Examples of how my moral code is tied into religion are, killing and stealing. I would never kill or steal anything. Not just because it's a sin, but because I know it's wrong. The norm in society says that they are wrong so the majority of the people are going to gravitate away from them because they consider them bad. Therefore, a lot of impacts on my view of morals come from the way my parents raised me, which in turn relates to how their parents raised them and the amount of influence religion has in their lives.

Morals

I think my morals have resulted in freedom of choice. I have sat and watched people make bad decision after bad decision and I decided I wouldn't do the things they have done. There are some boundaries that I will not cross. However, there are some factors that have influenced my morals greatly, that I couldn't help. My parents drilled that education is severely important into my head for years. It is a very strong concept for me and I often put my education before a lot of other things because I know that when I get out of high school my life is going to be what I make of it.

Another aspect where my morals come into play is how people treat other people. When I was younger I was constantly ridiculed, teased, and tormented for multiple reasons. After a lot of events after that point in my life I chose to treat people with respect and how I would want to be treated because I know how it hurts to be constantly put down. Therefore my emotions and experiences play a huge part in my morals as well.

What Principle Would You Die For?

This was a tough questioin for me to answer at  first. Equality, freedom, and religion are all very important principles in our lives, but I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't die for any of them. In my opinion, if you're trying to make an impact on something, you would have a better impact if you were alive trying to help the cause.

This point can be argued with Ghandi and how he would fast to prove his point on nonviolence. This was an incredibly nobel and brave thing to do, but look around at society and life today. There are still wars and constant fights and terroristic threats/attacks happening all over the world at any given time.

Lives can be given for certain causes, but their names are in vein if nothing happens for the cause. Therefore, if you contribute to helping the cause you firmly believe in, it would help more than just dieing for it. Speak up, stand your ground, and never give up, especially if a certain principle means that much to you.

"The Unexamined Life is not Worth Living"

An unexamined life is not worth living. People live their lives everyday and sometimes, are still unsatisfied. If you don't strive for your goals and reach for your dreams then you're just settling for something, when you know you could do better. In my opinion, you're not alive unless you're living everyday like it was your last. One of my biggest fears is dieing and feeling like I could have done somuch more with the precious gift of life I had been given. So many people take advantage of their lives, and spend the majority of their life on a couch in front of a TV.

In my opinion, if you examine your life and there is something that doesn't feel right about it or that is unsettling or displeasing, then you know you should change to what makes you happy. You only have one life here on this earth, right now is the time to live it up. Strive for your best. If you want to be a doctor and your aspiration in life is to help other people, dont become a real estate agent, just because it is easier to become.

The way I look at life, is live with no regrets. Do the things that some people think are crazy. Who cares? It's your life, not theirs. An example of this is when my friends went to sing karaoke in a restaurant. Of course, they were nervous, but they had always wanted to do it. And yes, some people gave stares like, "Who told those girls they could sing?" but they just wanted to have fun, and my friends knew that more than likely, they were never going to see the people that were in that restaurant ever again. So why not? If you live your life conforming to what society wants to see and not what you want to be, then your life is going to seem unexamined by yourself even though it is your life, because you didn't live up to your dreams and aspirations.