The article “Addicts,
Mythmakers and Philosopher” by Alan Brody, encompasses the ability or lack
thereof of turning away from temptation. I completely agree with the article as
a whole, but the section that stood out to me is “Socrates on Self-Mastery”. According
to Brody, Socrates thinks, “knowing how to discern the good leads to doing the
good, despite temptation’s deceptions. It means
having the right kind of ability to both choose and do what
is best, and this is what having self-mastery means” (Brody). I agree that the ability to decipher between right and wrong is crucial, a point that needs emphasizing since I
believe that an individual can do anything they set their mind to. (64).
I believe this to be so crucial because if an individual knows what is right
versus what is wrong, there would be no sane reason to choose the bad over the
good.
Brody
says that the reason that individuals give in to temptation is “because one
doesn’t have the ability (the know-how) to see it as the better alternative
(perhaps only momentarily)” (Brody). In
other words, individuals’ thoughts deceive them into thinking the right is
wrong and the wrong is right based upon short-term benefits rather than focusing
on the long-term (135). My point is not that one’s long-term contentment
is greater than their short term, but that in order to accomplish any long-term
goals; one must sacrifice momentary happiness to achieve lifelong happiness (132). Thus, in order to accomplish this, they must
focus on self-mastery to be able to determine what the right decision is based
upon long and short-term benefits combined. If one does this, they will most
likely realize that the temptation is not worth the repercussions and turn away
from wrong, leading them to success throughout their life. This would prove to be extremely difficult for those with addictions, as they are physically and emotionally dependent, but self-mastery would be one of the first steps in facing that addiction.
Brody also states how “the Socratic analysis of temptation goes beyond a simple
‘willingness’ model of choice”, which is that “yielding to temptation’
is not being unwillingly overpowered, but is the experience of being a willing
participant choosing what is at that moment wrongly thought to be best”(Brody).
This encompasses the main viewpoint of Socrates about willingness and
temptation. Likewise, I agree that giving
in to temptation is because of altered deceptions, and because of physical and emotionally dependencies (2).
Brody, Alan. "Addicts, Mythmakers, and Philosophers." Philosophy Now. Philosophy Now:
2012. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.
Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein,
and Russel Durst. They Say I Say. New York: W.W. Norton
& Company, Inc., 2015. Print.
The way in which you organized your post was unique. I think that based on common sense, the socratic idea of self mastery works, but the problem is much more than just will power. Like you said, "I agree that giving in to temptation is because of altered deceptions, and because of physical and emotionally dependencies (2)." Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI would like to clarify something, I do not think the socratic idea works since the problem is more involved. I believe that if one was to look at the problem of addiction on a surface level, the apparent solution would be "stop doing it" and use will power, but because the problem is more than a surface level, shallow issue, it doesn't work.
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