What Is Morality Why Should Society Be Moral At All Essay

What Is Morality Why Should Society Be Moral At All - Essay Example ‘Society’ is ‘a large group of people who live together in an organized way, making decisions about how to do things and sharing the work that needs to be done’. It is interesting to note that the lexical definitions of the words ‘morality’ and ‘society’ begin not with the definite article (the) but with the indefinite article (a). It goes on to imply the limitations of their specificity. In other words, any discussion on an issue like morality is inherently bound to be highly subjective in nature and any effort to arrive at objective conclusions is utterly futile. But this could mean that there are at least some issues which allow total objectivity and that becomes a disputable statement if we consider Nietzsche’s observation that there is no such thing as an objective point of view, which means objectivity itself is a subjective matter. [â€Å"There is only a perspective seeing, only a perspective 'knowing'; and the more e motions we express over a thing, the more eyes, different eyes, we train on the same thing, the more complete will be our idea of that thing, our 'objectivity'.† (Nietzsche, 153)] ... Not only in the production processes but also in the themes of films do we notice an ever-increasing obsession with technology if we take a careful look at the recent part of Hollywood’s journey from Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark to Cameroon’s Avatar. Even at this point of time, if humankind still continues to ponder over issues like morality and if there are still some directors interested in throwing light on how ‘sometimes good people do evil things’ (as the advertising tag of Sam Raimi’s 1998 film A Simple Plan reads) and if Michael Sandel’s discourse on justice has the potential to draw such huge crowds that it is rated among the most popular courses in Harvard’s history, it deserves careful consideration. It is a testimony to the fact that science’s takeover bid for the world does not mean a decline of our interest in morals and morality. The fundamental goal of a code of morality is to exercise control on the aspirations and deeds of individuals and groups. It is expected to be a deterrent. More than a century ago, W. W. Jacobs wrote the story The Monkey’s Paw (which opens with the caution: Be careful what you wish for. It might come true.) in which he skillfully embeds a very useful message in a seemingly horror story as to how our anxiety for quick or undeserving gains could have fatal consequences. It is this anxiety that prompts good people sometimes to do evil things. Thus, Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan is more or less on the same lines as Jacob’s story. Capitalism, war, crime and corruption are all rooted in the desire to make a profit even if it is at the expense of someone else’s loss and if there is a code that could make everyone realize that prosperity is