Jamela Coleman Period 1

Is good and evil in the eyes of the beholder? The individual preference of morality and immorality is based on culture, religion, life experience and the teachings of loved ones or important figures in ones life. Many philosophers from both Eastern and Western cultures and beliefs ponder the meaning or preference between good and evil. Next, the views on morality and immorality from the Western Philosopher Jean- Jacques Rousseau will be discussed. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the most influential thinkers during the Enlightenment in eighteenth century Europe. His first major philosophical work, A Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, was the winning response to an essay contest conducted by the Academy of Dijon in 1750. In this work, Rousseau argues that the progression of the sciences and arts has caused the corruption of virtue and morality. (http://www.iep.utm.edu/rousseau/) I agree with Rousseaus definition on good versus evil because it shows that morality and immorality is learned not born into individuals. In reality, the difference is, that the savage lives within himself while social man lives outside himself and can only live in the opinion of others, so that he seems to receive the feeling of his own existence only from the judgment of others concerning him. It is not to my present purpose to insist on the indifference to good and evil which arises from this disposition, in spite of our many fine works on morality. (http://www.malaspina.org/rousseauj.htm) This quote states that man are all similar and that good and evil become present with the opinion of others and how others judge, not that he wants to give a certain inclination, but that is his opinion.