Ethics and Reality Essay -- Religion Philosophy Papers

Ethics and RealityOne of the most pervasive problems in theoretical morality has been the attempt to reconcile the serious for the individual with the just for all. It is a problem which appears in contemporary discussions (like those initiated by Alasdair MacIntyre in After Virtue) as a tilt between emotivism and rationalism, and in more traditional regards between relativism and absolutism. I believe that a vital cause of this difficulty arises from a failure to ground morality in metaphysics. It is crucial, it seems to me, to begin with the way the world is before we begin to speculate about the way it ought to be. And, the most significant way the world is for ethics is that it is individuals in community. This paper attempts to develop an ethical theory based solidly on Whiteheads metaphysics, and to address precisely the problem of the relation between the good for the individual and the frequent good, in such a way as to be sympathetic to both. One of the most pervasi ve problems in theoretical ethics has been the attempt to reconcile the good for the individual with the good for all. It is a problem which appears in contemporary discussions (like those initiated by Alasdair MacIntyre in After Virtue) as a debate between emotivism and rationalism, and in more traditional debates between relativism and absolutism. I believe that a vital cause of this difficulty arises from a failure to ground ethics in metaphysics. It is crucial, it seems to me, to begin with the way the world is before we begin to speculate about the way it ought to be. The most significant way the world is for ethics, is that it is individuals in community, and this is the cosmology promoted by Whitehead. In Process and Reality, Whitehead outl... ... an action is performed, it has a determined relevance for future actions and entities so we have to make sure that our actions are the rightly ones. That is to say, not just any action, is an ethical action. An ethical action req uires Goodness. By performing an action which can be described as good, my individual good action is linked with all good actions. It has been defined by the notion of Goodness, and contributes to the definition of Goodness. We have, then, a reciprocal relation between the good for the individual and the common good grounded in Whiteheadian metaphysics.Bibliography Sylvan, R. and Bennett, D., The Greening of Ethics, Cambridge, U.K. The White Horse Press, 1994.PRWhitehead, A.N., Process and Reality, New York & London Macmillan, 1978 edn..RMWhitehead, A.N., Religion in the Making, N.Y. New American Library, 1974 edn..

Penny Marshall :: essays research papers

Penny Marshall has directed six films in her career "The Preachers Wife"(1996), "Renaissance Man"(1994), "A League of Their experience"(1992), "Awakenings"(1990), " heavy(p)"(1998), and "Jumpin squat Flash"(1986). We know Penny best from her stint in Laverne and Shirley (1976-1983) as the hilarious Laverne De Fazio. After the series was cancelled Laverne appeared in some pictures until her directorial debut in "Jumpin Jack Flash". This film was pretty much a bomb and Penny gained credibility as a director in "Big". tom Hanks received a nomination for beaver Actor in this picture. Marshalls best directorial accomplishment had to be in "Awakenings" starring Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams. This film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Robert DeNiro), and for Best Adapted Screenplay. Penny Marshalls style is classical. "Awakenings" and "Big" in particular are based upon a three-act stru cture. "A League of their Own" and "Big" are tall tales, strongly centered on plot. There exists good and bad people, and characters that are changed by their experiences (Dr. Malcolm Sayer, Josh Baskin). Character actors are full-grown in her films and certainly used to reflect the persona of the star as well as to draw people to the movie. In films such as "Big" Penny places a high emphasis on setting which are highly selective in detail.Penny Marshalls typical choice of genre is comedy probably because of her comedic background, but she did direct "Awakenings" which is a drama. Her films tend to deal with contemporary issues in society such as coming of age ("Big"), oppression of the mentally handicapped ("Awakenings"), and womens accomplishment ("A League of their Own"). Penny Marshalls films are not multi million dollar movies which are filled with special effects and heart camera action rather they are simple pictures which let the actors convey the messages. Penny does not attempt to use film as an art rebound rather she uses film to tell a story. Penny Marshalls story sources consist of original and adapted screenplays. "Big" was written by Gary Ross who is best known for makeup and producing "Pleasantville", and Anne Spielberg who wrote "Toy Story". "Awakenings" was adapted from a book of the same title by Oliver Sacks and written for the screen by Steven Zaillian who wrote "Schindlers List" and "A Civil action at law" to name but a few. From these two films it is presumed that Penny uses a variety of sources.In "Awakenings" and "Big" Pennys style is classicism.