Blog 3 - What Social / Moral Principles do you find compelling and why? How do these principles fit with the personal principles you identified in Blog 2? Do they conflict at all? Do you think you can live according to both? How will you go about doing so? i.e. Prioritize them? Adopt specific ones for specific contexts?

                The reading on social morality was probably the most interesting one we’ve read so far.  Not because there were tons of cool ideas and information, but because the issues that arose brought truth and meaning to so many things that happen every day.  This reading basically describes society as a contract, where the people who inhabit it are “ruled” by the government.  The principles that interested me the most were the ones regarding paternalism and public morality because they seem the most prevalent in everyday society.

                The principle of paternalism struck me because I automatically thought of parenting.  Are all people being treated like children in society?  There is a paragraph about general welfare and it is followed up by the paternalism principle.  Therefore, we’re led to believe that the government can oversee what we do and monitor it so that we are living according to their standards, and what is best for the people as a whole.  In my previous blog, I wrote about how we’re all going to die one day, and that life should be lived to the fullest.  However, this idea of paternalism could hinder people’s ideas of what ‘fullest’ really is. 

                If I were to live my life to the fullest, it would not work out because of the hold the government has on our society.  If a pyromaniac gets a thrill from lighting fires and that s all they want to do for the rest of their lives, they won’t be able to live their life to the fullest.  With the limitations of laws and morals, many people’s ideas of a full life are at a disadvantage.  So it is still a question if anyone is truly living out their lives the way they want to.  The answer will forever be unknown, however, because society will always be monitored in some way, shape, or form. 


I commented on http://ashantijones.blogspot.com/ 's blog.