An act is a certain action motivated by the inner world of a person formed at that time. Acts can be moral and immoral. They are committed under the influence of a sense of duty, beliefs, upbringing, love, hatred, sympathy. Every society has its own heroes. There is also a certain scale by which human actions are evaluated. According to her, it can be determined whether this is an act of the hero, which will serve as an example for future generations.
The concept of feat was thought even by ancient philosophers. Reflections on this subject have not passed and modern thinkers. All human life consists of a continuous chain of actions, i.e., actions. It often happens that a person’s behavior and thoughts are different. For example, a child wishes only good to his parents. However, their actions often upset them. It is safe to say that tomorrow depends on today's action. In particular, our whole life.
Socrates' search for the meaning of life
Socrates was one of the active seekers of the meaning of this concept. He tried to figure out what a real heroic deed should be. What is virtue and evil, how a person makes a choice - all this worried the ancient philosopher. He penetrated the inner world of a particular person, its essence. I was looking for the highest purpose of actions. In his opinion, they should be motivated by the main virtue - mercy.
The basis of actions is the goal of learning to distinguish between good and evil. When a person can penetrate the essence of these concepts, he will be able, according to Socrates, to always act courageously. Such a person will necessarily commit a heroic deed for the sake of the highest good. Socrates's philosophical thoughts were aimed at finding such an incentive, a force that would not need recognition. In other words, the philosopher speaks of self-knowledge, when a person will have internal motivations that replace centuries-old traditions.
Sophists vs Socrates
The philosophy of Socrates tried to explain the essence of the concept of "act": what is it? The motivating component of his action is the opposite of the position of sophists, who are taught to find out their hidden motives, giving them the status of conscious. According to Protagoras, who was a contemporary of Socrates, the meaning of human life as an individual is a clear and successful expression with the ultimate satisfaction of personal desires and needs.
Sophists believed that every action of a selfish motive should be justified in the eyes of relatives and other people, since they are part of society. Therefore, the environment must be convinced, using sophisticated speech-building technologies, that he needs it. That is, a young man who accepted sophistic views, learned not only to know himself, but also having set a specific goal, to achieve it and to prove his case under any circumstances.
"Socratic dialogue"
Socrates departs from the earth. He rises above and in considering such a thing as an act. What is it, what is its essence? This is what the thinker wants to understand. He seeks the meaning of the whole existence of man, starting from the physical and selfish. Thus, a complex system of techniques is developed, which is called the "Socratic dialogue." These methods lead a person along the path of knowing the truth. The philosopher leads the interlocutor to an understanding of the deepest meaning of masculinity, good, valor, moderation, and virtue. Without such qualities, an individual cannot consider himself a person. Virtue is a developed habit of always striving for good, which will form the corresponding good deeds.
Vice and driving force
The opposite of virtue is vice. It forms the actions of man, directing them to evil. In order to establish oneself in virtues, a person must gain knowledge and acquire judgment. Socrates did not deny the presence of pleasures in human life. But he refuted their decisive power over him. The basis of evil deeds is ignorance, and moral is knowledge. In his studies, he analyzed a lot of human behavior: what is its driving force, motive, impulse. The thinker comes close to the later Christian views. We can say that he penetrated deeply into the human essence of man, into the concept of the essence of freedom of choice, knowledge, judgment and the origin of vice.
Aristotle's view
Socrates criticizes Aristotle. He does not deny the importance of knowledge so that a person always does good deeds. He says: acts are determined by the influence of passion. Explaining this by the fact that often a person who has knowledge acts wrongly, since feeling prevails over wisdom. According to Aristotle, the individual does not have power over himself. And, accordingly, knowledge does not determine its action. In order to perform good deeds, a moral stable position of a person is necessary, his willful orientation, a certain experience gained when she experiences sorrow and receives pleasure. It is grief and joy that, according to Aristotle, are the measure of human actions. The guiding force is the will, which is formed by a person’s freedom of choice.
Measure of actions
He introduces the concept of a measure of actions: lack, excess and what is between them. It is by acting on the patterns of the middle link, the philosopher believes that a person makes the right choice. An example of such a measure is masculinity, which lies between qualities such as reckless courage and cowardice. He divides actions into arbitrary, when the source lies inside the person himself, and involuntary, forced by external circumstances. Considering the act, the essence of the concept, the corresponding role in human life and society, we draw some conclusions. It can be said that to a certain extent both philosophers are right. They examined the inner man rather deeply, avoiding superficial judgments and being in search of truth.
Kant's glance
Kant made a considerable contribution to the theory considering the concept of an act and its motivation. He says that it is necessary to act in such a way that you can say: "Do as I do ...". By this, he emphasizes that an act can be considered truly moral when the motivation is free morality, which sounds in a person’s soul as if it’s alarm. Historians of philosophy believe: the actions of man, their motives are determined by Kant, from the point of view of rigorism.
For example, considering the situation with a drowning person, Kant argues: when a parent rescues his child, this act will not be moral. After all, he is dictated by a feeling of natural love for his own heir. A moral act will be if a person saves a drowning man unknown to him, guided by the principle: "Human life is the highest value." There is one more option. If the enemy was saved , this is a truly moral heroic deed worthy of high recognition. In the future, Kant softened these concepts and combined in them such human motives as love and duty.
The relevance of the concept of action
The concept of good deeds does not cease to argue today. How often does society recognize the moral actions of great people whose motive was actually not good goals at all. What today is heroism, courage? Of course, to save a person or animal from death, feed the hungry, dress the needy. Even the simplest action can be called a real good deed: advice to a friend, help to a colleague, call parents. Transfer an old woman across the road, give alms to the poor, pick up a piece of paper on the street - acts that also fall into this category. As for heroism, it is based on the sacrifice of one’s life for the benefit of others. This is primarily the defense of the motherland from enemies, the work of firefighters, police, rescuers. Even an ordinary person can become a hero if he has taken out a baby from the fire, neutralized the robber, and covered the passer-by with his chest, on which the muzzle of the machine gun is aimed.
According to many psychologists, philosophers and theologians, up to the age of seven, a child is not able to fully distinguish between good and evil. Therefore, appealing to conscience is useless, due to the fact that the concept for it has very blurred boundaries. However, from the age of seven - this is a fully formed personality, which already consciously can make a choice in one direction or another. The actions of children at this time should be skillfully directed by parents in the right direction.