Philosophy08 Final

p Reading Jacob Needleman 's Why Can 't We Be Good

Jacob Needleman 's book Why Can 't We Be Good ? is an intriguing examination of the constant tension between good and evil in history Needleman contends that human nature falls into a series of predictable patterns - ones that suggest that our behavior is not unique , but somehow hard-wired into our very existences . Why Can 't We Be Good ? not only poses a question steeped in ethical , moral , and religious undertones , but it challenges our understanding of why we are who we

are . Humanity , Needleman maintains , undermines itself at virtually every turn

The book covers sixteen different aspects of human nature , starting off with something he labels The First Step ' The step ' in question relates to both humanity 's first steps into understanding and apprehending the world around them , as well as the reader 's (my ) first steps into an exploration of human behavior . Needleman says that a preparation of the mind is needed ' to know what God ' means as well as the Ten Commandments , which the author says is the fundamental basis of human behavior . Still , to conform to a set of basic human rules , the mind must be conditioned to accept them and the idea of God . He says a sort of philosophical and mental training ' is necessary , since moral action is never automatic ' I agree with this : I feel that my decisions are calculated

Needleman covers the notion of point of view ' which really speaks to me . He is right : everything that life presents us is greeted by me with an opinion or a perspective . I immediately have a feeling or a perception about it . He also argues that no idea can exist alone which means that all ideas don 't come to us individually . This sounds like how I learn things I assimilate the larger whole . It 's like hearing a song for the first time I don 't hear all the words first since I 'm taking in the song as a whole . I hear the melody and the rhythm . Great ideas come to us all at once

What Needleman is doing is introducing the idea of free will - a thread that will course throughout the entire book . After bringing up the question of why God would introduce evil to man , full well knowing that man would succumb to it , Needleman curves back to the notion of ideas Great ideas are all about moral action . We need to think and act morally . We have to condition ourselves to do so we have to strip away everything that seems false

The second chapter begins with a focus on Socrates and why we ask the questions we do Needleman goes into an explanation of why the Socratic method (dialogues ) work so well . Then , he moves into Plato and his difficulties with him , not to mention his frustration with why he could not understand Plato . I am fascinated with Needleman pointing out that Plato tried to articulate that knowledge...