Modern medicine has provided us with a myriad of psychological treatments; many of them now come in the form of a pill, rather than the form of counseling. Counseling could be considered akin to surrounding yourself with a better person and through them aiming more accurately at virtue and in turn happiness, so we have accounted for that. However, psychological drugs pose an interesting problem. Can one truly be considered a virtuous person if they are unable to maintain stability without the consistent use of this medicine? If their condition is truly a chemical imbalance, as many psychological conditions are said to be, then they are certainly caused by an outside source (assuming they did not willingly subject themselves to severe psychological trauma). Therefor, their condition causes them to act unwillingly when they do bad actions on behalf of it. Through the use of these drugs, they combat this condition, rebalance themselves mentally, and are capable of knowing and pursuing the true good. Could we still say that these individuals are not virtuous based upon this dependency?
Sunday, April 11, 2010
States of Mind
During class, we discussed how the use of coffee to be studious is a temporary state of the soul, therefor it did not count as willingly being virtuous. Neither this example nor the example of the "virtuous" drunkard has totally convinced me that one who is aided by an outside source is incapable of being virtuous.
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Justification by way of circumstance and exception leads to relativism, so we can't say that chemical embalances don't forfeit a person's virtue. However, we can say that they're not virtuous by defect, not by choice. Whereas others, eventually, CHOOSE not to be virtuous.
ReplyDeleteIf you choose to take a medication that puts you in a position to make better judgments, the fact that you depend on the medicine may not be a problem. AS long as we could describe the condition as stable, I think we can allow it. FOr example one cannot exercise virtue without living in a community or having friends and odd circumstance could take these away, but on the whole one can rely on them, just like, perhaps, some medicine. Unfortunately I don't think many chemical adjustments are in fact stable. Anything that is chronic and cannot be improved by taking the medicine such that the medicine eventually becomes unneeded poses a problem for the stable soul just like a bad education or a city with bad laws.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mr. Davis is the fact that medication puts you in a position to make better judgement, but you should never let the medicine be the problem. If you can handle taking the medication, but you have a handle on everything, then I don't see it being a problem.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I don't think taking medication is the best way to be stable, whether your studying for a test or in everyday life.
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