“What? I’m trying a new look.”
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make slavery moral. Similarly, George Washington was undoubtedly a great man, but
that doesn’t mean that slavery is justified because he owned slaves. Actions use means
to achieve an end, and ethics determines the ends to achieve and the means that will
achieve them; therefore, moral principles are right or wrong based upon the nature of
reality. Only reason can discern the nature of reality consistently. Since human beings
must achieve certain ends based upon their nature in order to survive and flourish and
only reason can deduce what ends those are and how to accomplish them. Any irrational moral code will ultimately lead to death and suffering.
Confucius considers ritual and tradition virtuous, while Aristotle does not. Confucius needs people to respect ritual as he does not justify his moral code through reason,
and so must justify it on an irrational basis. Aristotle, meanwhile, does attempt to justify
his morality using reason and so does not need to appeal to tradition or authority. Since
only reason can correctly determine what acts are right and wrong, a moral code on the
basis of tradition or authority such as Confucius’ is no moral code at all. „
Works Referenced
Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. Martin Ostwald. Boston: Pearson, 1962.
Confucius. The Analects. Trans. Burton Watson. New York: Columbia UP, 2009.
“On Wall Street,
only one who knows nothing
knows everything.”
29
empire because they are technically morally superior to their enemies. Although the
import of Aeneas’ final act remains ambiguous, one thing is clear: the greatest tragedy
and the greatest secret of war, is that all wars are civil wars. The loss of a child is felt
the same throughout the world because we are all human—all related at some point
in time by blood. Virgil uses the universal horror of the death of sons to illustrate this
point, which is part of why the Aeneid remains a timeless work of art. „
Works Referenced
Herodotus. The Histories. Trans. Grene. London: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage, 1990.
“And as if blinding your brother wasn’t enough, he keeps peeing in the ocean.”
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but all of a sudden the action skids to a halt at the end of Chapter 8, and readers are left
deeply confused, because according to the text, they’ve just read the work of the first
“author of this history” and very shortly the “second author of this work” (Cervantes
70) will take on the job of continuing the story which the first author failed to do.
However, if author 1 left “the battle unfinished” and author 2 has yet to start his own
tale, who on earth is talking at the very end of Chapter 8?
There are many theories as to how many voices exist within Don Quixote and how
they all fit together. Ignoring the role of Cervantes as overall writer of Don Quixote
there exists the first author who writes Chapters 1-8, the second author who writes
Chapter 9 and onwards, and a disputed third voice often referred to as the ‘supernarrator’ or the ‘narrator-editor’ (Polchow 12). Others believe this voice to be the same as
the second author and that the interruption at the end of Chapter 8 is his own announcement of his introduction. The 3 main narrator theory makes the most sense as
we can often see a different voice occasionally interjecting into the narrative, creating
transitions between scenes in a “meanwhile…” fashion or making his own commentary
often marked by his exclaiming “¡válame Dios!”, “good lord!”
“Pull my finger.”
57
Ajax’s suicide is influenced by many factors; along with an obligation to uphold his
honor, he faces immeasurable sorrow and distress, so his suicide is not only the result of
his desire for honor. However, honor plays an enormous role in his decision and serves
as his own justification for his death. Through the influences of individual and societal
honor with regard to Athenian democracy and the warrior honor code, Ajax employs
the idea of restoring his honor in suicide as a way to handle the upsetting, dishonorable
events in his life and as a way to salvage control over his fate, despite the shame he has
been dealt. Through this act, Ajax is able to posthumously gain honor, and he leaves
behind all the grief and shame that he has experienced in his life. „
Works Referenced
Sophocles. Ajax. In Odysseus at Troy. Ed. and trans. Stephen Esposito. Newburyport,
MA: Focus, 2010.