A matter of individual conscience
The conscience is the part of your mind that tells you whether your actions are right or wrong. Sometimes we call it the voice of conscience. We are not born with a highly developed sense of conscience that alows us to know what is the right thing to do in a given situation. Some people may be better at it than others, but generally we have to criticaly analize what we do or what we are about to do if we want to live a good life and not feel guilty about what we do or omit to do. One of the many things that we should bear in mind is the matter of egoism. An egoist is a person who thinks that he is better than other people and who thinks and cares too much about himself or herself. Being a little bit egoist is a good thing as long as it involves taking care of ourselves and our needs, but generally the word egoism shows disapproval. Egoism prevents the egoist person from really loving anyone but himself and as a consequence will surely prevent others from loving him as well.
"Todos, cuando favorecen a otros se favorecen a si mismos" (Séneca, Cartas a Lucilio)
Savater, Etica para Amador
Chapter 6
2 comments:
Hi Adriana!
Don't you think Seneca's quote quite contradicts your previous points? According to this last idea, being egotistic is not only not bad in itself but actually unavoidable!
Freud believed our conscience was nothing but the internalization of the norms others have led us to believe in... Do you agree?
Above all, why should these concepts, in your view, matter to teachers?
Looking forward to reading your replies,
Gladys
I think that a good-natured person won't help others because he or she wants something in return from thet person. I believe that many times we receive help from people we don't even know and this is because they want to live a good life too. By helping others we are building a better society and a better world, maybe not for us but for future generations.
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