What has made American leaders great is their sense of equality and fellowship with their fellow Americans, not their sense of exclusivity and superiority. Thomas Jefferson praised George Washington for refusing the offer to become America's first king. Washington instead became the first American president. Washington's integrity was pure and Washington's sense of justice was unwavering, and untainted by self-interest and bias: this was Jefferson's highest praise of our first president. Washington's integrity is so unique it even seems to contradict Glaucon's assertion in "The Ring of Gyges" that every man would be a dictator if he were given the chance. Washington rose above his baser instincts, and lived according to the principles of humility and obedience to the law and ethical system of values, not to his own impulses and desire for power. He served the public and thus served democracy. And he helped create a system of laws that was strong enough so that when individuals did fall prey to the temptations of Gyges held the office of the president, such as Richard Nixon, the system was strong enough to withstand such biases and personal abuses and ultimately overcame a would-be autocrat's will to universal power. But it was only because watchdogs and whistleblowers pointed out such abuses that the system and the law was able to challenge men such as Nixon and prevent them from having their Machiavellian, Prince-like aims fully realized. Nixon justified his illegal actions of spying on his rival presidential candidate as necessary for national security, again conflating his own interests with the interests of the state. President Gerome Andrews is doing the same...
Although it may be distasteful it is not (at least not according to the evidence) a matter of national security. Thus, it should remain private as it does not infringe upon the president's ability to govern wisely. Fidelity to one's spouse is one of the requirements of being a good president. Many presidents have been unfaithful to their spouses, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Bill Clinton, and lead the country strongly and ethically. Many presidents have been faithful and lead the country poorly. No one can know or needs to know how the president's personal relationship with the First Lady may be suffering. But the suffering of the country from a lack of ethical leadership must be addressed Even if the country is not immediately suffering the consequences this cannot justify Andrews' frightening attitude that despite the fact he rules a democracy, he knows best how to govern the country, not the people, for he knows deep down that if he were exposed, he would lose their public support.
" Pericles said that Athenians did not have to be forced to chose the lot of the soldier, they loved the land that gave them the freedom to chose to live the way they wanted, rather than to fulfill a predetermined ideal and thus, when necessary: "They resigned to hope their unknown chance of happiness; but in the face of death they resolved to rely upon themselves alone." In a
Here he is talking about the same ideal of non-violence for the sake of mental purification. Yet he gives a violent example when describing how this tranquility works. He says: "Take, for example, Emperor Shun's execution of the four criminals. They themselves had committed the crimes and Shun, therefore executed them. Did Shun have any personal feeling or selfish desire in the matter?..." So it appears that the important
.....personal ethics derive from a combination of established codifications of moral conduct, such as those embedded in political documents or in religious scripture, but also from my personality, my upbringing, and my worldview. I tend towards a utilitarian point-of-view, in that I do believe that the consequences of actions are more important than worrying about whether an action is inherently right or wrong. I also believe that there are situational
1 A DEFENSE OF PLATO'S IDEA OF THE GOOD IN HIS REPUBLIC The main prompt or assertion provided in the lecture notes, being "Whatever might be its philosophical value, the idea of the Good has no political relevance," goes completely against Plato's philosophical tenets and contrasts sharply with his two major syllogisms concerning the idea of the Good and the relevancy of the Good in a political
However, many times, viewing an object in relation to other objects does indeed transcend the permanence of the meaning and create new meaning. Therefore, our knowledge of what we are convinced is real can change, which highlights the question of whether or not our original knowledge was real before it changed; or if knowledge can ever be real. Socrates posed these questions initially, pondering the ability to agree that
This is a pertinent observation and one that is possibly central to understanding the problem of environmental ethics today. Bugeja goes on to state that "…the new technologies that now keep us constantly connected also keep us constantly distracted" (Bugeja, 2008). He also makes the important point that, "Digital distractions now keep us from addressing the real issues of the day. Each of us daily consumes an average of nine
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