In our class discussion today, we briefly touched on the genre of romanticism. I've always wondered, what exactly do you guys believe? If we were all writers during the romantic period, would you fall under that heading?
My biggest question involves the idea that man is inherently good. Do you believe this idea, or do you uphold a more "pessimistic" view of the human race?
In textbooks, the dates of literary and historical periods look like they are concretely set in stone. . . ."hmmm, 3 p.m., 1750. . .now it's. . . the. . . Romantic Period. . .yeah!" But of course, we know that, in reality, literary and historical movements are a fluid combination of growth and rebellion. The Romantic writers, overall, did share rather lofty, emotional, optimistic points of view (well, maybe not the Dark Romantics like Poe).
i guess i'm still more curious about everyone's feelings on the idea that man is inherently good, though. not to say that this point of view was shared only by romantics, it was just that discussion today that brought about the thought.
i personally believe that man is inherently neutral (the switzerland of beings, if you will). we are neither evil nor good to begin with. the actions we carry out in our lives, our thoughts, and our words sway us more towards the evil or the good.
I'm with you on this, boo. Lately, I'm seeing the pendulous nature of good and evil (possibly brought on by reading too much Cormac McCarthy this summer.) I also think choice, circumstance, and knowledge of oneself and one's own motivations really come into play. And lately, I am intrigued by the idea that what sometimes SEEMS good--and is applauded by the vast majority--isn't really always all that good. . .later I will think of an example.
I used to be a Romantic but not any more. I think it's also (in addition to the things already mentioned) a function of age (I guess experience really). Oftentimes we think people are inherently good because we haven't experienced anything otherwise. I'd say I'm in the neutral camp as well. EVeryone has the capacity for good or evil but there are innumerable factors which determine which way we go -- not least of which is plain old genetic chance.
On the other hand -- I do believe in the inherent value of all people (in part, I think, because so much is up to chance and it doesn't seem right to destroy anyone's chances).
If i was asked this question on a regular basis, my answers would definitely vary. I would like to believe in man as inherently good and say that sometimes life and circumstances cause us or lead us to choose to "fall off the wagon". However, as i gain years of life experience, i am disappointed to find some people that just choose to be the yin in the world for no apparent reasons at all. They may have had many great opportunities in life and they still choose malice and hatred because thats who they've always chosen to be. I believe being "good" is a choice we have to make over and over again every day, and so is acting on evil. Its all on a person to person basis...so yeah, i think i agree with you booradley, we're born neutral and its all up to us from there.
I agree with Boo's first comment. I believe we do start off neutral and what we do defines us. We create our own paths, if they are straight or really curvy. We have the choice to do good and evil. Every second of the day we make it. Like we could choose to go here instead of there but something along the way could make the path whindy. (i dont know if i spelt that right sorry =) Basically what im trying to get at is that everyone makes there own decisions in life which leads to good or bad things. Thats how i believe there is romanticism. They wanted to show ppl the world thru there eyes and in order to do that they told it through the emotions of writing. Its what we choose that defines our paths.
I try to think myself as a romantic, thinking positive in human beings, etc, however, i've always found that man is evil by nature. I believe we're born into innnocence, but with every influence around us, even if our parents are friggen saints, we always have that pull to do something we shouldn't, that little voice telling us "Hey, you can do it, noone is around." Everyone knows what i'm talkin about, and to deny it would deny thy self. I think a person much CHOOSE to be good, rather than CHOOSE to be evil, cause i believe evil is more natural than good.
Not to be too pedantic or anything, but guys, please remember to capitalize Romantic as in the Romantic period, Romantic poets, Romantic, Romantic, Romantic.
Is man inherently good? Rhetorical. One knows what one has lived through, their experiences, and the trials of their peers and family. It's that which has shaped them. So to say that one is born into goodness is contridictory to reality. Man inherits what man hands down. I don't like it. I would much rather say man is spoiled. It just doesn't hold true.
bman, you bring up exactly what i was thinking. Evil, temptation, is much easier to live by than against. If given a choice of their own, instinctively human will choose the pleasurable, the easy one. Very rarely is that the "good" option (which brings up the point that goodness should be PROVEN since it is held in the highest regard relative to its dark adversary). Man thrives for pleaure. Cannot live without it. However, man also has the distinctive ability to reason--creating a struggle between the good and evil in each of us (fundamentally swayed or not).
While I agree that evil is a lot easier to commit in certain situations than good is, I think many of you are being awful harsh on man. Instead of simply dwelling in the fact that evil is more prevalent than good, shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that even though committing evil is more convenient than good, we still don't do that most frequently (and I do mean MOST frequently because I doubt any of us would assert that we choose evil much more often than good)?
I think everyone is giving free will too much reign. Yes, we all have free will, but there are so many other factors that play into our decision making process that it is not just a matter of choice. Culture, peer pressure, psychological influences, expectations, etc. that play into our decision making process that free will isn't so free anymore.
Also, with each decision there are so many circumstances out of our control, how much power of choice does free will really give us anymore? Is it truly the end all, be all of decision making? Or is it just another contributing factor to the out come of any particular event? Maybe I'm just thinking in the Dark Romantic perspective, I've been known to do that...
I agree that everyone has a choice and we all start in the middle. Then We come to points where there are million of different roads we can take and we chose a road that may not be good in the long run. There is always a good road and a bad road. We make the choice to take the road.
In a way you can compare your "inherited goodness" to your grades. Every quarter you start fresh with a 100% what you choose to do with that is your choice, just like when your born. When you are born it is like you start with a 100% and your life decisons make you fluxuate up and down that scale just as if you do your homeowrk or study for a test your grades will show.
15 comments:
In textbooks, the dates of literary and historical periods look like they are concretely set in stone. . . ."hmmm, 3 p.m., 1750. . .now it's. . . the. . . Romantic Period. . .yeah!" But of course, we know that, in reality, literary and historical movements are a fluid combination of growth and rebellion. The Romantic writers, overall, did share rather lofty, emotional, optimistic points of view (well, maybe not the Dark Romantics like Poe).
good point plato.
i guess i'm still more curious about everyone's feelings on the idea that man is inherently good, though. not to say that this point of view was shared only by romantics, it was just that discussion today that brought about the thought.
i personally believe that man is inherently neutral (the switzerland of beings, if you will). we are neither evil nor good to begin with. the actions we carry out in our lives, our thoughts, and our words sway us more towards the evil or the good.
I'm with you on this, boo. Lately, I'm seeing the pendulous nature of good and evil (possibly brought on by reading too much Cormac McCarthy this summer.) I also think choice, circumstance, and knowledge of oneself and one's own motivations really come into play. And lately, I am intrigued by the idea that what sometimes SEEMS good--and is applauded by the vast majority--isn't really always all that good. . .later I will think of an example.
I used to be a Romantic but not any more. I think it's also (in addition to the things already mentioned) a function of age (I guess experience really). Oftentimes we think people are inherently good because we haven't experienced anything otherwise. I'd say I'm in the neutral camp as well. EVeryone has the capacity for good or evil but there are innumerable factors which determine which way we go -- not least of which is plain old genetic chance.
On the other hand -- I do believe in the inherent value of all people (in part, I think, because so much is up to chance and it doesn't seem right to destroy anyone's chances).
If i was asked this question on a regular basis, my answers would definitely vary. I would like to believe in man as inherently good and say that sometimes life and circumstances cause us or lead us to choose to "fall off the wagon". However, as i gain years of life experience, i am disappointed to find some people that just choose to be the yin in the world for no apparent reasons at all. They may have had many great opportunities in life and they still choose malice and hatred because thats who they've always chosen to be. I believe being "good" is a choice we have to make over and over again every day, and so is acting on evil. Its all on a person to person basis...so yeah, i think i agree with you booradley, we're born neutral and its all up to us from there.
I agree with Boo's first comment. I believe we do start off neutral and what we do defines us. We create our own paths, if they are straight or really curvy. We have the choice to do good and evil. Every second of the day we make it. Like we could choose to go here instead of there but something along the way could make the path whindy. (i dont know if i spelt that right sorry =) Basically what im trying to get at is that everyone makes there own decisions in life which leads to good or bad things. Thats how i believe there is romanticism. They wanted to show ppl the world thru there eyes and in order to do that they told it through the emotions of writing. Its what we choose that defines our paths.
I try to think myself as a romantic, thinking positive in human beings, etc, however, i've always found that man is evil by nature. I believe we're born into innnocence, but with every influence around us, even if our parents are friggen saints, we always have that pull to do something we shouldn't, that little voice telling us "Hey, you can do it, noone is around." Everyone knows what i'm talkin about, and to deny it would deny thy self. I think a person much CHOOSE to be good, rather than CHOOSE to be evil, cause i believe evil is more natural than good.
Not to be too pedantic or anything, but guys, please remember to capitalize Romantic as in the Romantic period, Romantic poets, Romantic, Romantic, Romantic.
Is man . . . inherently good?
Innocence of a child . . .
The grand triumph of good over evil . . .
. . . (world peace) . . .
Is man inherently good? Rhetorical. One knows what one has lived through, their experiences, and the trials of their peers and family. It's that which has shaped them. So to say that one is born into goodness is contridictory to reality. Man inherits what man hands down. I don't like it. I would much rather say man is spoiled. It just doesn't hold true.
bman, you bring up exactly what i was thinking. Evil, temptation, is much easier to live by than against. If given a choice of their own, instinctively human will choose the pleasurable, the easy one. Very rarely is that the "good" option (which brings up the point that goodness should be PROVEN since it is held in the highest regard relative to its dark adversary). Man thrives for pleaure. Cannot live without it. However, man also has the distinctive ability to reason--creating a struggle between the good and evil in each of us (fundamentally swayed or not).
While I agree that evil is a lot easier to commit in certain situations than good is, I think many of you are being awful harsh on man. Instead of simply dwelling in the fact that evil is more prevalent than good, shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that even though committing evil is more convenient than good, we still don't do that most frequently (and I do mean MOST frequently because I doubt any of us would assert that we choose evil much more often than good)?
I think everyone is giving free will too much reign. Yes, we all have free will, but there are so many other factors that play into our decision making process that it is not just a matter of choice. Culture, peer pressure, psychological influences, expectations, etc. that play into our decision making process that free will isn't so free anymore.
Also, with each decision there are so many circumstances out of our control, how much power of choice does free will really give us anymore? Is it truly the end all, be all of decision making? Or is it just another contributing factor to the out come of any particular event? Maybe I'm just thinking in the Dark Romantic perspective, I've been known to do that...
I agree that everyone has a choice and we all start in the middle. Then We come to points where there are million of different roads we can take and we chose a road that may not be good in the long run. There is always a good road and a bad road. We make the choice to take the road.
In a way you can compare your "inherited goodness" to your grades. Every quarter you start fresh with a 100% what you choose to do with that is your choice, just like when your born. When you are born it is like you start with a 100% and your life decisons make you fluxuate up and down that scale just as if you do your homeowrk or study for a test your grades will show.
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