Essay One


Because We’re Women


The society has long been defined as patriarchal where women are treated unequally compared to men. A lot of cases regarding verbal and sexual abuse, harassment and battery among females have plagued the courthouses. Peaceful conferences and violent demonstrations on the streets addressing their interests have been their ways of making the society hear their voices (, 2000). Fortunately, empowerment among the female members of the society at present have been constitutionally upheld and protected by a lot of government administrations. Their representations in international conferences have helped in pointing out their views and opinions on different issues and disciplines. But despite the drastic change and the very different lifestyle that women have these days, cases of discrimination, usually indirect, are still experienced in the house, workplace and community in general. There is still a set of norms that dictates the female individuals on how to behave in certain situations. Their social roles are still directed by their gender roles.   


 


I am like a half-filled glass of water that is needed to be filled in. I have a little knowledge about the third world. What I only know is that our country belongs to the Third World and I am not even sure if we can be considered as one of the developing countries. We all know the Philippines are currently facing economic difficulties. I enrolled in this class for three reasons. First, this class can help me with my thesis for I’m currently doing a study on the life stories of Women Overseas Workers. Second, this class can make me fully aware of the situation of women in other Third World Countries.


During the first few meetings of the class I have some questions in mind. How can we say a country belongs to the Third World? How can a third world country answer the woman question? What is the real situation of women in each country? Where are the women now in each country?


The observation presented in this paper answered my third question and helped me arrive into an observation. Although women’s organization are very active in the third world countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, Russia, in the Caribbean and in the Middle East, women in these countries are still suffering from oppression. Because poverty and underdevelopment still haunting them. Although, they are given the opportunity in the field of education and politics but still they are still in the side stream. The following are my observations on the space or situation of women in the Third World according to the reports: a) women are not given any opportunity in any decision making bodies in their government.  b) Women are given low-paying jobs c) women’s double burden of paid work and domestic responsibilities (a good example was given by the reporters in Africa about a woman working in the rice field while carrying her son on her back) d. women are into professions but their careers are domesticated for example nursing, dressmaking etc. e) There are no government policies that will help improve the situation of women in their societies just like in the Hong Kong.


            My observations gave me realizations, that we need a complete change in the whole system; in education, culture, government, politics, religion, and economy and in ourselves that will be the only time we can say women are free from oppression. But still at the rate we are going…. it’s easier said than done….


 


 


 


 


 


 


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Life’s Pleasure


There has been a lot of changes happened in my life these past few months. I am not sure if these changes made me a better person…there are many things in this life that always puzzles us…we might figure out why is that…or banish on this earth still wondering…but whatever it may be who cares? This is our life….our own life…life we choose…life we decided to take…we meet people…we get friends…some come and go…some stayed. some comfort us…some seeks comfort from us…it’s a give and take world…and happy are those who know jow to give back not because they expect to receive but because they love to give…and in giving they find happiness deep within that helps them go thru life…there’s more to learn in this life…in fact a lifetime is too short…very very short….Life…. let us distinguish among several different things that we might have in mind when we ask whether someone has a good life.


 When we speak of a good life, we might mean a morally good life; or (to use an old-fashioned-sounding phrase) a life of virtue. So, for example, if certain popular views about the life of virtue are correct, we could say that Mother Teresa had a good life in this sense. If a Kantian view is correct, we might want to say that someone who steadily acted for the sake of duty would therefore have had a good life. If we think that the moral virtues are traits from some list (e.g., justice, wisdom, courage, temperance) then we might think that a person who exemplifies these traits (and few vices) would therefore have a good life in this sense.


When we speak of a good life, we might use ‘good’ in a sense in which it means ‘good as a means’ or ‘causally good’. We use the word in this sense when we say, for example, ‘although it was not good in itself, it was still a good thing that I had my teeth drilled’. Such things are good because of what they cause or prevent or lead to. A life might be like that. So when you say that Mother Teresa had a good life, you might mean that her life as a whole was beneficial. You might say this if you thought it was a good thing that she lived her life as she did a good thing because of its effects, largely on other people who benefited from her good works.


             Another sort of good life would be the beautiful life. We might want to know what makes a person’s life aesthetically good. A certain person’s life might make a fine subject for a moving and beautiful biography, or even for a novel or play. Yet at the same time, that life might have been pretty rotten in itself for the one who lived it. Tragic figures come to mind. If someone lived the life of King Lear, we might think he had an aesthetically outstanding life a skilled playwright might be able to cook up a good play about it but a life that was less than ideal for him. Only a man absurdly obsessed with being memorialized in drama could want such a life.


Someone might take the question about the Good Life to be equivalent to a question about what sort of life best exemplifies human life. He might be looking for lives that are good examples, or ideal specimens, of human life. Imagine that you are setting up a museum exhibit designed to illustrate some of the main species here on Earth. You might want to include a good sample of a blue whale, and a good example of a garter snake. Additionally, you might want to include a good example of a human being. An ideal candidate for that position would be someone who leads a ‘good human life’ in this “exemplar” sense.


Finally, we come to the sense of the phrase that is relevant here. Sometimes, when we speak of the Good Life, we have in mind the concept of a life that is good in itself for the one who lives it. Some philosophers speak here of ‘personal welfare’ or ‘well-being’. A good life, in this sense, would be a life that is outstanding in terms of welfare, or well-being. Other philosophers seem to have the same idea in mind when they speak of ‘a life well worth living’.


 


I think we may be able to get ourselves to focus on the relevant notion if we engage in a little thought experiment. Imagine that you are filled with love as you look into the crib, checking on your newly arrived firstborn child. The infant is sleeping peacefully. You might think of various ways in which the baby’s life could turn out. What schools will he attend? What career will he choose? What sort of personality and intellect will he have? Will he someday have children of his own? Your concern for the baby might express itself in the hope that, whatever he does, things will turn out well for him. You might hope that this baby gets a good life a life good in itself for him. That hope the hope for a life good in itself for the one who lives it is a hope.


 


It is not entirely clear that this thought experiment will always work. Suppose a religious fanatic looks into his child’s crib. Suppose he wants the child to have a wonderful life. Suppose he thinks that the best imaginable life for the child is one in which the child becomes a martyr for God (, 2004). This religious fanatic might be filled with love, and he might be thinking about the Good Life for his child. But it is not clear that he is expressing a hope about what we would normally think of as the child’s welfare. Perhaps he is thinking about what he takes to be moral or religious virtue. Perhaps he is thinking about the most beneficial life the child could live. So the mere fact that he is a parent filled with love, and is looking into his child’s crib, and is saying something about ‘the Good Life’, does not absolutely guarantee that he is thinking about the topic of this book.


 


These five concepts of the goodness of lives are indeed five distinct concepts. In the absence of actual views about what makes for a morally good life, or a useful life, or a beautiful life, or a good life in itself, or an exemplary life, it might be hard to prove conclusively that these are different ideas. But there are some considerations that may help to make the differences more apparent. Reflection on these differences may also help to clarify the concept that is of central importance here.


 


 


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