An act is a certain action motivated by the inner world of a person formed at that moment. Actions can be moral and immoral. They are committed under the influence of a sense of duty, convictions, education, love, hatred, sympathy. Every society has its heroes. There is also a certain scale by which a person’s actions are assessed. According to it, it is possible to determine whether this is the act of a hero, which will serve as an example for subsequent generations.
Even ancient philosophers thought about the concept of feat. Contemporary thinkers have not escaped reflection on this topic. All human life consists of a continuous chain of actions, i.e. deeds. It often happens that a person's behavior and thoughts differ. For example, a child wishes only the best for his parents. However, their actions often upset them. We can say with confidence that our tomorrow depends on today's actions. 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 was trying to figure out what a true heroic act should be. What is virtue and evil, how a person makes a choice - all this worried the ancient philosopher. He penetrated into the inner world of a particular person, his essence. I was looking for a higher purpose for my 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 into the essence of these concepts, he will be able, according to Socrates, to always act courageously. Such a person will definitely perform a heroic act for the sake of the greater good. Socrates' philosophical reflections were aimed at finding such an incentive, a force that would not need recognition. In other words, the philosopher is talking about self-knowledge, when a person will have internal motivations that replace centuries-old traditions.
A correspondent and his daughter were rescued near Lugansk
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Alina Smelaya, a people's correspondent in Lugansk, was driving home to Lugansk with her daughter at night along a snowy road. The car skidded and ended up in a ravine. A family who was passing by in a minibus came to the rescue. People called for help and, together with the woman, began to wait for rescuers to arrive. Rescuers pulled out the car, but they refused financial assistance.
Sophists vs Socrates
The philosophy of Socrates tried to explain the essence of the concept of “action”: what is it? The motivating component of his action is the opposite of the position of the sophists, who teach to find out their hidden motives, giving them the status of conscious ones. 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.
The Sophists believed that every action of a selfish motive must be justified in the eyes of relatives and other people, since they are part of society. Therefore, the environment needs to be convinced, using sophistic technologies of speech construction, that it is necessary for them. That is, the young man who accepted sophistic views learned not only to know himself, but also, having set a certain goal, achieve it and prove that he was right under any circumstances.
Forms
What are they? The action can be presented in the following forms :
- activity or inactivity;
- expression of verbal attitude, point of view, position;
- physical expression of attitude through facial expressions and gestures;
- a set of actions aimed at overcoming emerging difficulties in achieving a goal.
These steps always have a component of meaning. This distinguishes them from reflexive impulses, automatic patterns of behavior.
The latter include conditional “politeness” in behavior , which is often attributed to residents of Europe and America: their behavior is not aimed at giving pleasure to the interlocutor or expressing approval, but is an automated “form” of communication accepted in society.
Thus, the purpose and direction of behavior constitute a significant part of the definition of an action.
The action is also characterized by responsibility . That is, the individual is aware of and accepts the possible consequences. Understanding these processes and vice versa characterizes the personality from the side of consciousness.
They are characterized by feasibility and realism. This means, at least potentially, the possibility of their implementation.
"Socratic Dialogue"
Socrates departs from the earthly. He rises higher in considering such a concept as an act. What is it, what is its essence? This is what the thinker wants to understand. He seeks the meaning of all human existence, starting from the physical and selfish. Thus, a complex system of techniques is developed, which is called “Socratic dialogue”. These methods lead a person along the path of knowledge of the truth. The philosopher leads the interlocutor to understand the deep meaning of masculinity, goodness, valor, moderation, virtue. Without such qualities, an individual cannot consider himself a human being. Virtue is the 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 shapes a person’s actions, directing them towards evil. In order to establish himself in virtue, a person must acquire knowledge and acquire prudence. Socrates did not deny the presence of pleasures in human life. But he denied their decisive power over him. The basis of bad actions is ignorance, and the basis of moral actions is knowledge. In his research, he analyzed a lot of human action: what is its driving force, motive, impulse. The thinker comes close to the Christian views formed later. We can say that he deeply penetrated into the human essence of man, into the concept of the essence of freedom of choice, knowledge, prudence and the origin of vice.
The guy returned the extra 200 thousand rubles to the bank
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At the beginning of January in Chelyabinsk, Artem Mikheev, due to a cashier’s error, received twice as much money from the bank as he was entitled to. Instead of 200 thousand rubles, the young man was given 400 thousand. Artem found the extra money at home, but he returned to the bank to return 200 thousand to the cashier. The guy commented on his action like this: “I didn’t want to profit from someone else’s grief.”
Aristotle's view
Aristotle criticizes Socrates. He does not deny the importance of knowledge for a person to always do good deeds. He says that actions are determined by the influence of passion. Explaining this by saying that often a person who has knowledge acts badly, since feeling prevails over wisdom. According to Aristotle, the individual has no power over himself. And, accordingly, knowledge does not determine his actions. In order to perform good deeds, a person needs a morally stable position, his volitional orientation, and a certain experience acquired when he 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 the freedom of choice of a person.
What is it: definition
One of the founders of psychological science, L.S. Vygotsky. defined an act as a form of personal behavior realized during the period of development.
Moreover, the action was not something intuitive or reflexive , but went through all stages of awareness and development of principles of action.
That is, according to Vygotsky, an act is a form of conscious personal behavior.
In the definition of practical psychologist Golovin, an act is an act of a person’s relationship to external phenomena and objects, which is performed consciously and by choice. That is, the action acquires the features of personal self-determination.
In this case, an action can be either successful or unsuccessful , but in both cases it will show a positive result: inaction in this case will not be a failure, since it also expresses a certain attitude towards the world and personality traits.
In the definition of the Oxford scientist Murray, an act is only an element of human behavior. This element signifies a chain of relationships between people and the world around them, a structural component of a more complex pattern of behavior.
In Russian psychology, this impulse is interpreted somewhat more broadly. It represents the core of social activity, which determines the behavior of the individual in society and its main directions.
Measure of actions
He introduces the concept of the measure of actions: lack, excess and what is between them. It is by acting according to the patterns of the middle management, the philosopher believes, that a person makes the right choice. An example of such a measure is masculinity, which falls between such qualities as reckless courage and cowardice. He also divides actions into voluntary, when the source lies within the person himself, and involuntary, forced by external circumstances. Considering the action, the essence of the concept, the corresponding role in the life of a person and society, we draw some conclusions. We can say that to a certain extent both philosophers are right. They looked at the inner man quite deeply, avoiding superficial judgments and searching for the truth.
Result
Since we are talking about the result of an action, we need to dwell on this concept and analyze it in a little more detail. As with ordinary action, in most cases, after completing the process of action, a certain result will be visible. However, actions and deeds differ from each other in that the action includes consciousness. Accordingly, as already mentioned in the paragraph describing the subject of transformation, the result is not only what happened as a result of completing the process of the act, but also personal changes in the person performing it, in another person, as well as interpersonal changes. Simply put, taking an action only gives the actual result. While committing an act also carries with it moral consequences.
Kant's view
Kant made a significant contribution to the theory that considers the concept of action and its motivation. He talks about the need 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, sounding in a person’s soul like an alarm bell. Historians of philosophy believe: human actions and their motives are determined by Kant, from the point of view of rigorism.
For example, considering the situation with a drowning person, Kant argues: if a parent saves his child, this act will not be moral. After all, it 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 another option. If an enemy was saved, this is a truly moral heroic act worthy of high recognition. Subsequently, Kant softened these concepts and combined in them such human motives as love and duty.
Grade
Well, the last point that is worth talking about is the assessment of the action. This is the highest level of human consciousness when performing an action. As mentioned earlier, an action can be reflexive, instinctive and, finally, conscious. The latter includes the understanding that there will be some result in the end, as well as movement towards a certain goal. But there is an even higher level - the assessment of the action, that is, the analysis of what happened, what factors were involved, what consequences emerged, and how it affected people and the environment as a whole. However, in order to fully evaluate an action, you need to know all its components, starting with the motive and ending with the final result. Only then will you be able to evaluate the action objectively and draw appropriate conclusions regarding it.
Well, now you know what an act is, how it differs from an ordinary action, what its types are, what its features and components are, how good actions differ from bad ones, and so on. This information is not vital, you can easily exist without it, but still it may turn out to be useful, informative and more than interesting for you.
Relevance of the concept of action
The concept of good deeds continues to be discussed today. How often does society recognize as moral the actions of great people, the motive of which in fact was not at all good goals. What is heroism and courage these days? Of course, to save a person or animal from death, to feed the hungry, to clothe the needy. Even the simplest action can be called a real good deed: advice to a friend, help to a colleague, calling your parents. Taking an old woman across the road, giving alms to a poor man, picking up a piece of paper on the street are acts that also fall into this category. As for heroism, it is based on sacrificing one’s life for the benefit of others. This is, first of all, the defense of the Motherland from enemies, the work of firefighters, police, and rescuers. Even an ordinary person can become a hero if he rescued a baby from a fire, neutralized a robber, or covered with his chest a passerby at whom the barrel of a machine gun was aimed.
According to many psychologists, philosophers and theologians, until 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, he is a fully formed personality who can already consciously make a choice in one direction or another. The actions of children at this time must be skillfully directed by their parents in the right direction.
Adjectives to describe a person's appearance
When meeting someone, the first thing a person does is subconsciously evaluate their appearance and select the appropriate words. The following vocabulary is used for this:
- attractive, charming, stylish, elegant, beautiful, impressive - to describe the image as a whole;
- tall, short, slender, thin, plump, fat, well-fed, pumped up, thin - help characterize the physique;
- young, adult, young, old, elderly - characteristics of age;
- long-haired, curly, wavy, bald, cropped, as well as names of colors (red, black, dark chestnut) are popular adjectives to describe hairstyles;
- chubby, freckled, high-cheeked, big-eyed, large-mouthed, light-skinned, snub-nosed - these and other words help describe facial features.
