The Bane of Fairness

What is pertinent for the purposes of this paper is to confront the very issue of how, in my estimation, capitalism betrays Rawls’ mission to establish a conception of an equal and sustainable political society. An important component of Rawls’ vision is a society in which people are given the capacity to meaningfully participate together; provided with real opportunities to enter privileged and influential institutions and alter the course of their political lives. Beyond each person being able to pursue their individual vision of a good life, Rawls also recognizes the importance of a society that maintains its cohesion. By drawing one’s attention first and foremost to Marx’s theory of the forms of alienation, I shall reveal the extent to which capitalism compromises the capacity of each person to be equal in the way Rawls defines. Furthermore, while remaining indebted to the genius of Marx, I will also draw upon the important work of Charles Taylor’s communitarian argument to articulate the manner in which Rawls’ conception of a political society is not stable long-term. Thus, it will be shown that Rawls’ conception of fairness as it pertains to equality and sustainability is incompatible with the capitalism his theory allows

“To Be or Not to Be”: An Essay on the Essence of Suicide

In this essay, I will attempt to argue that at times, suicide can be justified. Using Friedrich Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols as well as my own ideas, I set out to help the reader understand that suicide can in fact be justified because it is done out of free will, death is the same regardless of who you are and no individual can know what you are going through. This essay is meant to change the way society views suicide where rather than it being a selfish act, acknowledging that the individual was suffering a great deal before even considering suicide. Despite it being an extreme way of fixing one’s issues, I set to outline the ways society can avoid making those who consider suicide, selfish. I would like this essay to be seen as a liberating piece of work that helps unify those who suffer and the rest of the world.   &nbsp

Stoic Reflections on Thomas Nagel’s Account of Death

Is death the greatest of all the evils that man can experience, or can one perceive the end of her existence in a neutral way? For Thomas Nagel, death is an evil because it brings to an end not only the goods of life but also the future possibilities of an individual. He attempts to prove this thesis by responding to three main criticisms of his position. First, how can anything be bad if it is not experienced as bad? If something is bad doesn’t there have to be a subject of experience? Secondly, if death is bad who is it bad for—that is, who is the subject who experiences death? Finally, if we don’t find the billions of years of non-existence before our birth disturbing, why do we find the billions of years after our death worrying? This paper will briefly summarize Nagel’s argument that death is the greatest of evils, while also arguing that his position is implausible because the responses he proposes to the above-mentioned criticisms do not satisfactorily answer the critiques. This paper will also advocate the stoic view that the nature of our reality is such that everything decays with time; nothing lasts forever, and therefore death is a natural part of life with no essentially good or bad qualities.&nbsp

Is Prenatal Diagnosis Discriminatory Towards People With Disabilities?

The recent dialogue on abortion, largely implicating the life of the child-to-be, has been a fiery one—but little has been said about possible effects on the living, an oft overlooked locus of interrogation in this debate. While recent genetic techniques that locate disability in fetuses have been frequently proclaimed as opportune advancements in our culture, it has been argued by those in the disability rights community that such procedures have discriminatory effects on the currently disabled members of our society. It is argued that restricting a potential life due to the presence of a disability directly sends a message that the lives of those living with the same disability are of marginal value. I plan to show that many abortions which aim to prevent the birth of a disabled child can indeed be regarded as discriminatory. When abortions are acts that are based on uninformed societal views of the undesirability of a specific disability, then those who opt for an abortion may be implying that their disabled fetus has no right to life. In utilizing such unenlightened views to categorically prevent a fetus’ prospective life, a prima facie form of discrimination directed towards those currently living with a similar disability is expressed