Friday, October 3, 2014
are martyrs truly happy?
According to the 5th criticism of utilitarianism, happiness isn't or shouldn't be something that people strive for since the most virtuous people have renounced happiness and are considered virtuous. Mills response to that argument is that will those virtuous people may not have acted in a way that gave them the most satisfaction at the moment, it does not mean that they renounced happiness. Mills argues that those people made a distinction between happiness for themselves and that of the greatest amount of happiness/pleasure for the greatest amount of people. I would like to give some examples of Mills' argument. One example is that of religious/social martyrs, we named some in class like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi, these two and the countless others along side them willingly gave up things that made them comfortable or happy and sacrificed their lives to give the general population happiness. If it were not for Dr. MLK Jr. we as a country would not be in a place where voting rights are (supposedly) equal, and persons of color are able to dine, shop, and do other things that make them happy in the same places that Caucasians do. If it weren't for Gandhi, India would still be under British rule. He gave up things that made him happy (food for example) in order to make a point so that his grandchildren's generation onward would be able to be happier than his generation. The main point that I am attempting to illustrate is that the martyrs willingness to give up their personal happiness for the greater happiness of the most amount of people is in a way (to quote Kant) fulfilling their telos which makes them happy. By fulfilling ones telos or purpose, one can rest assured in knowing they have done their life duty and can rest in peace no matter the circumstance.
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Blaire, i agree with you that martyrs are happy when they have fulfilled their telos. Martyrs feel that their calling is to make a bigger amount of people happy or make a huge impact. They put just about everyone in front of themselves and their happiness. Another example is Mother Teresa. She also fulfilled her telos for the happiness of greater amount of people.
ReplyDeleteI agree that martyrs are fulfilling their purpose in life, however, most martyrs never really plan on getting killed for their beliefs. Ridiculed, beaten, and bullied perhaps, but not killed. MLK himself was shot down on his hotel balcony. I'm pretty sure he had more plans for bringing equality to America and wasn't ready to stop quite yet. Nevertheless, almost all martyrs knew the potential consequences of their actions and were prepared for the possibility of being killed. I wouldn't say they were happy. I would say they would be satisfied that their work was successful though.
ReplyDeleteI believe that many martyrs must have been really depressed or in pain at times but at the end of the day knew that they were fighting for something greater and accepted their pain and at the end of the day were happy doing so. A perfect example of this is Jesus. One of the more famous moments of his life is literally called "The Agony in the Garden". Jesus knew what he had to do in this situation know matter how much it would it hurt and in the end he was able to die a happy man.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the martyrs are jus like us, going through pain and depressing stages just to see better days. They were fighting for something just like we are. We are fighting for inner peace by following the commands of God.
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