Kant and Aristotle's Ideas on Morals and Happiness Essay

Kant and Aristotle's Ideas on Morals and Happiness - Essay Example To most of us, there is always a demarcation between the things concerning livelihood and the things concerning our morality.   In fact, most of us agree on the notion that the pursuit of morality often leads to us having to deny our self-happiness.By contrast to these universally accepted views, Aristotle believes that it would be impossible for any man or woman to access true and genuine heartfelt happiness unless the same person is also maintaining the right morals.   Virtue is, therefore, seen as a requirement for happiness.   It is something that is hard to comprehend. One would think that if a person is given sufficient economic power or political power, then the individual could attain happiness without necessarily doing what is accepted as morally right.Kant has a different view of happiness. He believes that it is not possible to have a categorical imperative for happiness.   People are different and they have different personalities. This implies that everybody has his own set of things that make him or her happy. What makes one happy does not necessarily make the other happy. Since knowing the things that make others happy is elusive, Kant believes that we can only use a hypothetical imperative in order to come up with something that will make other people happy (Kant 62).The concept of Aristotle on the morally right is not the same one that most other philosophers have. It is argued that if manners usually teach people good morals, the military will not be using the kind of training they do. There is the biggest concern on who knows who is moral and who is not. There is always the possibility of hypocrisy since outward appearance does not necessarily reflect the internal desires and intentions of a person. Morality is, therefore, thought by others not to be connected in any way to happiness, for instance, Kant (63) argues that morality is all about doing what is accepted in society as the moral thing to do. He believes that morality is all a bout rationalization in order to choose from the right and the wrong in order to end up with a moral decision. Kant further propagates the idea that a moral decision must be consistent with the moral laws and must be done for moral reasons (61).

The History of the Railroads Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The History of the Railroads - Research Paper Example Smith’s theory that propagated dependence of individualism that oozed out of the nation at this time period. Capitalism is a spectacular form in which societies are created. Capitalism is based on market democracy in which consumer spending is a vital component of driving the economy of supply and demand. One of the reasons why the American economy thrives is due to the spending ability of the middle class in this country. Compared to other nations, American families, in contrast, are able to afford more products on a grand scale than most countries around the globe. In essence, capitalism defined America. America’s obsession with Industrial began with Slater’s mills in which textiles became the primary market to produce. Although it may seem a new age, most workers were orphans or children who owed the debt to the nation. The drive of capitalism for this country relied on many factors that included slavery, turned raw goods into products, factories, and the abil ity to produce such a drastic workforce. Jefferson understood and acknowledged this problem. He feared that America could not be properly industrialized due to the fact that it would not attract workers. Hence, the need to build factories around villages became critical components towards the move to industrialize America. ...The large plantations in the south gave the rise to slave labor was the fertile farmland in the Midwest enabled the United States to accomplish several things. First of all, the invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin initiated the rise to slave labor in the rich land that extended beyond from Carolina to Texas, which expanded the United States border. The fertile land gave boosted the American economy, which contributed to the development of the United States. The south had to dramatically shift its economy to tobacco and cotton to agriculture. In the north, corn supply was enhanced along with the focus on producing textiles. Cities such as New York and C hicago became the top commerce cities that built its economic empire due to the industrial revolution. The creation of the Erie Canal became the hallmark of water commerce that enabled America to lower shipping costs of raw goods from nation to nation. In midst of all this, Chicago became America’s fresh water supply and became a fur trading port for all entrepreneurs. With all these factors accumulating, the need to invent railroads became extremely crucial. The United States quest to become the â€Å"Steel giant† was pivotal for the development and the expansion of railroads. Railroads were the internet at this particular time period as it literally transformed the dynamic economic commerce of the nation. Building the first transcontinental railroad meant steel, a drastic labor force, expanding towards the West and cooperating with the natives. A key element that should not be focused that dramatically eased the way for capitalism is the fact that public infrastructu re dominated the scene during this era.