Christmas is one of the few traditions that most Westerners still share. Could the loss of such traditions and the values they help to inculcate be responsible for the West's alleged moral decline? (Law, 2003, p. 93)Since Ko's latest comment on our discussion about George killing Lennie has directly raised questions about the nature and basis of morality (October 12, 2010 11:32 PM), this seems a good time for some pre-discussion on the coming ideas.
So, what is your response to the first two sentences from Stephen Law's 17 page essay?
Added October 14
And what about Thailand?
Are there allegations of any similarly caused moral decline in Thailand? Who says such things? Are they right or are they talking nonsense?
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References
Actually, I do not know that my idea agree or disagree. It is might be only my respond when I read that statement.
ReplyDeleteI think the morality does not decline. It only changes. Generally, even if morals are the tool for control the society, they are also the reflex of society. Then, when societies are changed that affect morals. Therefore, moral is not only depended on various societies and cultures it is depended on periods too.
Morality might seem declining if you compare with old or traditional morality; on the other hand, there are the new morals happened for support changes of societies. For the example, “human rights” is the symbol of the modern society; in contrast, in feudal period, there are classes in society and there are a lot of morals for support feudal system and disregard human rights such as locality or the agreement in their class.
Therefore, in my idea, morality is not decline but some of them cannot function in changing society, and new morals will be create to run the new society.
It would not be easy to decide but I have the same idea as Poome that morality is not decline. True, I may recall Darwin's Theory of Evolution - Natural Selection which morality is just flexible ,acts to preserve and accumulate minor advantage to survive. If someone says that morality is decline which it’s shown much exaggerated , but there is no denying that the old morality have been shaken and unwanted to adapt itself.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about Christmas. My family is not christian and for us these days are the opportunity to stay together because of the holidays. But what I can see in my country is an excessive consumerism and an increase in the rate of depression. Anyway, this is not the point.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that the loss of traditions affects to the moral of the westerns. Nowadays, we are becoming a cosmopolitan world thanks to the telecommunications and the decrease in the prize of the flights. International organizations decide the rules of our planet, although seem to be more designed for western countries, I mean, for example kazakhstan is not exactly the model according to United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
In these days, we learn the sense of "good" and "bad" in the movies, art, books, music, our parents, teachers, in the news, traveling... but not much in Christmas opening gifts, eating a turkey and drinking wine, which I have to say is a very nice moment ;)
Honestly, I've read this two sentences more than 5 times since yesterday morning until now and I'm still confuse about the meaning of last sentence. It's so complex for me so I can't answer the question with my confused understanding.
ReplyDeleteNet,
ReplyDeleteIt's OK not to answer Law's question.
I think your comment is perfectly reasonable response. It reminded me of an original text by John Stuart Mill that I once used in a level 6 or 7 AEP class. It took us an hour to work through the first sentence!
Don't worry, Law wanted to kick his essay off in style, but I think the rest of his sentences are a bit easier, and the rest are all embedded in the context of paragraph, unlike these first two, which stand alone. How difficult did you find Law's "Carving the Roast Beast" last term?
The grammar is a little complex, and I would guess that not everyone was familiar with the verb inculcate.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteMy opinion about "Carving the Roast Beast" is it is difficult but it's also challenging at first. After last term finished, I read it a couple of time then I found that I like it and it's not that difficult anymore. On the other hand, in "Where have all the Criminals Gone?". Nowadays, it's still tough for me so I just read it about 5 pages.
I think the grammar in the last sentence of Stephen Law is not a little complex like you says, it's so complex and I still try to figure out that What's exactly meaning of that sentence?.
Ok Net, I am going to tray it :)
ReplyDeleteI think that Law ask if the decreasing of the moral in the westerns is related to the loss of their traditions and the values that these traditions tray to teach them.
Mmmm, I am not sure it is more clear. I hope it helps to you.