This not my work.
This is a speech from an online class I took (I have others if you look at some of my earlier posts).
I was waiting for a title but it's been a while and I figured it was about time this got up here.
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How can one define a life's worth? How can its merits be given value and
its actions cost? When an object is given worth, it is valued upon its use. But can the same
evaluation be made of a person?
When an experiment is made
in science, the results must be placed in specific parameters. The scientist in
question must be able to take something as fluid as emotion or opinion and turn
it into something which has a specific set of characteristics. For example, if
a scientist were to evaluate intelligence, he must be able to set a specific
group of things to look for, such as problem solving, mental speed and so on.
Only if results can made devoid of opinion, either of researcher or viewer, can
they be trusted.
But what values would be
chosen to make such a search of human worth? Would they be physical
characteristics? Or would they instead be in terms of ability to understand and
memorize information? But what then of problem solving abilities, or the arts?
Even taking every value here stated would be an incomplete list, and many would
be difficult to put in specific parameters.
What then, can one do to
define the worth of a person? Can it be done? It has been tried without success
many times, from placing a price on a slave to human IQ.
A life cannot be given a
specific worth, but the worth it has can be raised. After all, a life does have
worth, even if it cannot be measured. That worth could therefore be increased
by increasing those things that give it worth. What, then, is the way to
achieve highest worth in life?
To change a piece of iron
into a sword, a smith must work to heat and bend the metal into the shape which
he desires. Likewise, to turn a mere talent, which is good, into a true skill,
we must work to bend it into the shape we desire. Just as a sword is more
useful than a simple piece of iron, a skill is more useful than a talent.
But the more important
question than how to increase worth is why to increase worth. What use does it
serve?
To quote Aristotle from
his book Nicomachean Ethics:
"Every art and every
scientific inquiry, and similiarly every action and purpose, may be said to aim
at some good. Hence the good has been well defined as that at which all things
aim. But it is clear that there is a difference in ends;foor the ends are
sometimes activities, and sometimes results beyond the mere activities. Where
there are ends beyond the action, the results are naturally superior to the
action.
"If it is true that
in the sphere of action there is some end which we wish for its own sake, and
for the sake of which we wish everything else, and if we do not desire
everything for the sake of something else (for if it were so, the process would
go on ad infinitum and our desire will be idle and futile), clearly this end
will be good and the supreme good."
He then names the ultimate
good as happiness.
Having knowledge of the
ultimate good gives people the ability to reach that good, much like an archer
aiming for a target. Therefore we must strive to achieve that ultimate good,
which is happiness. The next question is what must be done to get to that goal.
Just as an archer must know to pull back the bowstring, and how to aim and so
forth, we must know how to get to happiness. What is it that gets us there?
Would it be the same for each person?
Happiness does not reside
in material wealth of possessions, nor is it found in fame or prestige.
Otherwise, how could musicians and artists, most of whom never obtain money or
fame, be happy? In fact, how could any but the very elite be happy? And yet,
many people are. No, happiness must lie elsewhere.
Happiness lies in the
fulfillment of the measure of our creation, or doing what we are meant to do.
Those who are best at science, or music, or craftsmanship can all be happy if it
is what they are meant to be doing. Therefore, we must find that which we were
created to do. We must do that which we were created to do. For when we do it,
we will obtain happiness.
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