Search 4 Free Essays:

Form And Malignant Form

Below is one of our free research papers on Form And Malignant Form. If the term paper below is not exactly what you're looking for, you can search our essay database for other topics.
Form and Malignant Form

Every type of human activity has a malignant equivalent.

The pursuit of happiness, the accumulation of wealth, the exercise of power, the love of one's self are all tools in the struggle to survive and, as such, are commendable. They do, however, have malignant counterparts: pursuing pleasures (hedonism), greed and avarice as manifested in criminal activities, murderous authoritarian regimes and narcissism.

What sets the malignant versions apart from the benign ones?

Phenomenologically, they are difficult to tell apart. In which way is a criminal distinct from a business tycoon? Many will say that there is no distinction indeed. Still society treats the two differently and has set up separate social institution to accommodate these two human types and their activities.

Is it merely a matter of ethical or philosophical judgement? I think not.

The difference seems to lie in the context. Granted, the criminal and the businessman both have the same motivation (at times, obsession): to make money. Sometimes they both employ the same techniques and adopt the same venues of action. But in which social, moral, philosophical, ethical, historical and biographical contexts do they operate?

A closer examination of their exploits will expose the unbridgeable gap between them. The criminal acts only in the pursuit of money. He has no other considerations, thoughts, motives and emotions, no temporal horizon, no ulterior or external aims, no incorporation...

Login

Join

It's completely free!
Get instant access to all our essays.

Join Now!

Submitted by: 4freeessays
Date Submitted: 12-30-07 9:25am
Category: Arts
Words: 2897
Pages: 11.59