GRE写作-POOH百宝箱社会类之三

1、POOH 百宝箱社会类之三注：因为社会类中的小类型很多，而且问题相互交织，所以没再具体分类。American Values2PROGRESS AND ITS SUSTAINABILITY _5Frequently asked questions about sustainability of progress _6(Individual Choice of Occupation and Lifestyle _6 (THE ENVIRONMENT _ 7 BIODIVERSITY AND EXTINCTION RATES _8What is Progress?_17Social Responsi

2、bility _23James H. Wiborg23Rights, Law, and Morality _25Douglas B. Rasmussen_25Morality and Law _25Confusing Law and Morality _28Destruction of Morality and Law _28Teachings of Soviet Experience_30Mark Hendrickson _30Economic Lessons _31In a Capitalist Order _32Copying Market Gains _33Sociological L

3、essons_34Special Privileges Granted the Ruling Elite _35Political Lessons36People Are Expendable_37Moral and Spiritual Lessons39The Marxian Religion _40Moderation in All Things _41Donald J. Boudreaux _41Political Corruption _45Allan C. Brownfeld _45Earlier Scandals _45The Bewildered Society _46To Re

4、store Integrity, Limit Governments Power _47How Did It Happen?48Departure from Tradition _48Morality in America _49Norman S. Ream49Religious Beliefs of the Founders_51The Dissolution of Moral and Ethical Standards _53American ValuesMany of us profess to be novices in the arts, but virtually all of u

5、s are experts in Amercian values.That is, most of us consider the arts to be one of the those special inquiries that we have not yethad time to develop, but we think of American values as part and parcel （意为“重要部分”） of our everyday life. When we read the newspaper, we evaluate the latest news with an

6、 automatic reference to American values- often it is to say that America is going downhill. We evaluate filmsas promoting particular values, we drill candidates for public office on their stands on certain values, and we engage in gossip about the behavior of people we know from the point of view of

7、 the values, or lack them, that they exemplified in the latest scandal. Surely values are a simple enough matter to discuss.Let me turn this confidence on its head, however,by proposing the values are neverdetached from cultural circumstances. The very term values alludes to beliefs or ideasthat we

8、hold because we consider them to be consistent with either our own experience, ora heritage from our past , or both. That is, we accept values passed down to us, or wedevise new ones, and we champion themout of a consideration of our own interests.Perhaps the most distinctive American values, as ide

9、ntified historically, isAmericanindividualism. It is my sense, from years of teaching, that Americans tend to think of individualismas unmitigatedly positive. They see it as a compliment to our hardiness from the earliest days ofour settling the wilderness. I would certainly agree that to be individ

10、ual seems almost to be amoral imperative in our society. Let me suggest, however, that individualism is an extremelycomplicated concept -a trait that in preactice is anything but completedly flattering.( 好句型：anything but.决不是 )这个句子是可以作为典型的issue 的 thesisIt is a concept that came into usage only in the

11、 19th century. From its root, one might infre that the concept is healthy enough, that is implies a respect for individual human beings in all their uniqueness. However, the implications of the ism in the term are revealing. In our usage today, we associate an ism with any ideology that is held nonr

12、eflexively - that is , any opinion that is raised to unassailable status. Thus to lable a belief or practice and ism such as racism, or sexism, is to criticize the tenacity with which its advocates hold the idea or carry out the practice. This is precisely the assessment that the French visitor, Ale

13、xis de Tocueville, made in 1835 when he accused Americans of exalting thier personal ego at the expense of social responsibility, of putting the self above a commitment to community. Individualism as Tocqueville used it and as we would do well to consider it today, is an extreme assertion of the aut

14、onomy of the self.The demands and opportunities of settlement across a vast land meant that many Americans worked alone, helped by and helping others nearby only on occasion. This aloneness washeightened by the two circumstances that made American society unique -economicdemocracy, which meant econo

15、mic opportunity for most people, and the abandonmentof the most obvious elements of class divisions that marked European society. OnAmerican soil, each person, theoretically, was a social equal. We realize, quite clearlytoday, that this equality did not apply to blacks, women, or native Americans, a

16、nd that it was, therefore, deeply tainted. Until recently those who had equality claimed that everyone did, or that if they didnt, they didnt really want it.By 1830 this extreme economic and social autonomy had produced two qualities in American men that worried foreign visitors and American comment

17、ators alike. One was the extreme separateness with which men acted in relationship to each other, and even with their wives.Tocqueville noted that in no European society that he knew did men and women exist in suchtotally different spheres and men so totally apart from other men. In addition to auto

18、nomy at the expense of community , another consequence of this radical individualism was conformity . Americans strove inordinately for economic success and social status andin so doing revealed themselves as radically alike. That is, they were all individual in the same way. Ralph Waldo Emerson wro

19、te his famous essay, Self-Reliance, not to celebrate that Americans were self-reliant, but to urge them to throw off their cloak of conformity and refuse to subscribe to the opinions of others. He wanted them to be truly independent. His essay was a plea, and he was increasingly alarmed that it had

20、not done much good. Tocqueville was even more incisive. Americas greatest danger, he wrote, is that the majority, so afraid of nonconformity, will exercise tyranny. There is no intellectual room in Americans minds, he wrote, for the minority. Who will look after their interests? How will the majorit

21、y grow intellectually if they are so afraid of difference?What, we might ask, does individualism mean today? The sociologist Robert Bellah, in hisrecent Habits of the Heart, has presented a disheartening assessment. He notes the popularity of finding oneself as a justification for actions of all kin

22、ds. Christopher Lasch has called our society of individuals focused on their own goals a culture of narcissism. Still others have noted that we define our own values, not as commitments and ideals, but as a lifestyle. That is, we view lifes decisions, not as traceable to certain moral and intellectu

23、altraditions, but to a particular style that we call our own, while in fact, we patternobsessivelyafter the latest styles in fashion, cars, and leisure activities. Most worrisome to many is thehatred of others so rampant in our culture. It suggests that many in our society dont believein the dignity

24、 of the individualper se,but only of those individuals who are like them.Individualism, which we are so likely to cite with unthinkingpride, has its dangers as well asits glories.Another American characteristic, with which we have identified ourselves from thebeginning, ispracticality. We have alway

25、s considered ourselves to be a practical citizenry.Benjamin Franklin, in fact, seems to have set the template for that practicality in hisAutobiography. You remember that he tells the story of his life as one in which hard work,perseverance, and optimism brought him one good fortune after another. S

26、o certain was he that one could plan even moral perfection that he devised a calendar by which he would arrive at it in just one year. He decided that morality was distributed among 13 virtues, including, for example, industry and moderation. He marked his calendar so as to concentrate on each one f

27、or one week at a time, putting black marks in the boxes where he needed to work more. He planned to go through the entire course four times. He calculated that he would arrive at moral perfection in precisely one year.Good example关于弗兰克林的这个故事很多人都听说过吧Practicality, like individualism, seems a laudable

28、trait, but on examination it proves tobe deeply problematic.(这个句型让我想起argument 的开头，要背过哦！) Certainly the earlysettlers had jobs to do, and wilderness to clear, that left them with little time to devote toanything that did not have very perceptible, very material results.The belief that in Americaone c

29、ould determine ones destiny by hard work and freedom was an article of faith,but like individualism, utilitarianism has taken its toll.From the earliest days of therepublic, observers and citizens themselves said that our citizenship was absolutely obsessed with money making. In the 1830s, the term

30、wide awake designated the citizen who was always alert to the opportunity to make a dollar. Citizens coined the phrase worshiping the Almighty dollar to satirize the importance that many of their fellow Americans gave to material success.Then, as now, the most unfortunate consequence of a devotion t

31、o the practical isanti-intellectualism.（反知识主义？我个人的理解）Intellectual pursuits often have nodiscernible practical ends, in the ordinary use of the concept, nor are they achievablein a strictly linear or cause and effect process. The life of the intellect insists ondialectical reasoning, and the consider

32、ation of alternatives, rather thanpronouncements. Intellectual work takes a very long time. It calls for the exaltation ofemotions and ideas, neither of which are definable in terms of dollars, or specific valueas commodities. Above all, it challenges the status quo. As a consequence,intellectuals a

33、re often labeled with every quality that is anathema to utilitarians.Theyrecalled dreamers, out of step, and non-conformists. They are vilified as wanting to rock theboat when they ought to be grateful for their privileges. Utilitarianism, like individualism, hasnot been uniformly beneficial .( 这段是在

34、说明学术派也可以认为是理想派被排斥的原因)A third characteristic that has been identified as an American value is the authority thatAmericans have always given to their feelings. Here too, I will be somewhat dour. Feelings are often unequivocally wonderful in human relations. They radiate generosity and sympathy, and th

35、ey give primacy to our emotional lives. It is perhaps not surprising that an energetic, economically and socially mobile people, without much education, would reinforce their sense of personal worth by enshrining their present state of mind rather than embracing a process that moves toward the futur

36、e. The opposite of feelings is the mental work toward standards of knowledge that takes time and self-discipline. Thus it is unfortunate that in recent years, as Bellah and other cultural analysts have pointed out, that the reign of feelings has been almost absolute. Today, Americans of all social a

37、nd economic levels justify decisions about their personal destiny as getting in touch with their feelings. They base political campaigns, not on rational discourse, but on such slogans as In your heart you know hes right.Just what is dangerous about this tendency? A devotion to feelings enables a pe

38、opleto dispense quickly with judgment. （值得借鉴的开头方式： 设问）Theres no waiting around to ponder pros and cons, no careful consultation of a variety of points of view, no turn to thepast to consider the lessons of history. The greatest danger of a reliance on feelings as ones guide to behavior, opinion, and

39、 judgment is absolutism. Absolutism is the championing of a categorical judgment - either pro or con - to the exclusion of qualification, discussion, or process. It is to insist that only one way is right. As you can see, Americans typical reliance on personal standards in their individualism and on

40、 the practical in their utilitarianism, intensifies the tenacity which the absolutist is likely to stand fast in his position. Justice Oliver Windell Holmes had this to say about such certainty:Deep-seated preferences cannot be argued about . . . and therefore, when differences are sufficiently far-

41、reaching, we try to kill the other man rather than let him have his way. But that is perfectly consistent with admitting that, so far as it appears, his grounds are just as good as ours.PROGRESS AND ITS SUSTAINABILITYThis Web page and its satellites are aimed at showing that human material progress

42、is desirable and sustainable. People have worried about many problems.These pages discussenergyin general , nuclearenergy , solar energy, foodsupply ,population,fresh watersupply ,forestsandwoodsupply , globalengineering , pollution , biodiversity, various menaces to human survival, theroleofideolog

43、yindiscussingthesematters ,useful references .Otherproblems are discussed in the main text including minerals and pollution.With the development of nuclear energy, it became possible to show that thereare no apparent obstacles even to billion year sustainability.(1) . A billion years isunimaginably

44、far in the future.Humanity has progressedoverhundreds ofthousandsofyears,but untilabouttheseventeenth century,progresswas a rare event.There were novelties buta person would not expecta whole sequence of improvementsinhislifetime.Since thenscientificprogress has been continual,and in theadvanced par

45、tsof the world, there has also been continued technological progress.Therefore, people no longer expect the world to remain the same as it is.Verylikely,thegreatestrateof progress for the averageperson occurredaround the end of the 19th century when safe water supplies, telephones,automobiles,electr

46、iclighting,and homerefrigerationcameinshort order.Thispage and itssatelliteswillcontainreferencestoarticles,my own andby others,explaininghow humanity islikelytoadvance inthe near future.In particular,we argue that thewhole worldcan reach and maintainAmericanstandardsoflivingwith a populationofeven

47、15 billion.Wealsoargue thatmaintaining material progress is the highest priority and the best way toensure that population eventually stabilizes at a sustainable level witha standard of living above the present American level and continues toimprove thereafter.I offer no opinionabout a rightpopulati

48、on,and Isuspectthatpopulationwilleventually be limitedby a sense ofcrowdedness ratherthanby materialconsiderations. Heres a more extensive discussion of population. There is a widespread belief that the present standard of living of the advanced countries is not sustainable and not extendable to the

49、 present backward countries. I and many others dont agree. This exposition mainly concerns scientific and technological bases for optimism rather than the historicaland economic arguments ably advanced by the late Julian Simon. Simons web page is still being maintained and contains much of his work.

50、There are some menaces, but they are likely to be avoided. In contrast tothe menaces there aretechnological opportunities. Im pleased to see thatthe opportunities are slightly ahead of the menaces in numbers of hits.I considerthesepages essentially finishedas faras showing thatmaterialprogress issus

51、tainable.I have gottenintosomearguments about what presentpolicies are good and bad, and pages concentrating on that would requirecontinued updating. However, I think I have enough to show sustainability.Frequentlyasked questionsabout sustainabilityofprogressQ. What is meant by material progress?A.

52、Human progress in the last few centuries has included the following.Increased access to material goods.Safe water supplyIncreased life span. (3)Reduced childhood death.Increased opportunities for education.Societies that people choose to migrate to.More individual choice of occupation, lifestyle and

53、 avocations.( Individual Choice of Occupation and LifestyleMaterial progress has not led to uniformity in personal choice - as is sometimes claimed. In fact individuals have more freedom to choose, occupation, lifestyle and avocations than ever. The amount of choice will grow as societies become yet

54、 more prosperous.How can we measure this? Here are some ways.The total number of different occupations.?The reduced correlation between a persons occupation and that of his or her father or mother.The increase in the number of available hobbies.The increased choice in where to live. Grown children o

55、ften live, by choice, very far from their parents.Increased public tolerance of different lifestyles. )More opportunity to enjoy both culture and nature.Cleaner environment.(THE ENVIRONMENTUp to: Sustainability FAQAs countries get richer, they can afford a cleaner environment for people and they can

56、 afford more resources for nature without reducing theirstandard of living. Indeed a cleaner environment and more resources allocated to nature constitute a component of the standard of living. The richer the society, the more it values these components.Here are some considerations.PollutionPollutio

57、n of air and water is an old problem. Heres a poem about water pollution.In Kohln, a town of monks and bones,And pavements fangd with murderous stonesAnd rags, and hags, and hideous wenches;I counted two and seventy stenches,All well defined, and several stinks!Ye Nymphs that reign oer sewers and si

58、nks,The river Rhine, it is well known,Doth wash your city of Cologne;But tell me Nymphs, what power divineShall henceforth wash the river Rhine?Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772-1834, Cologne I understand the Rhine is finally getting fairly clean.The worst pollution was the bacterial contamination of wat

59、er supplies that caused cholera and typhoid. It was these diseases that killed about half of all children. The relation betweensewage getting in the water supply was discovered by epidemiology in London in 1845, sixteen years before Louis Pasteur proposed the bacterial theory of disease.More recent

60、discoveries of disease from water pollution have been much smaller than the 19th century discoveries)Increased consideration for the values in nature, e.g. for the preservation ofbiological diversity.BIODIVERSITY AND EXTINCTION RATESMany people worry that human activity is causing large scale extinc