TG04 YongJieHuiJeffrey CCO101 TMA

7/23/2019 TG04 YongJieHuiJeffrey CCO101 TMA

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Name: Yong Jie Hui Jeffrey

Play was described by Friedrich Nietzsche as the highest level of humanity, a art of the

three!ste develoment of the nature of humans", which includes our cognitive behaviour,

feelings and fears# $his correlates to the reason why the author, %tehen $# &sma ointed out

lay being an imortant factor to humanity, which was his overall claim in the e'cert#

However, insinuating that lay as the highest level of humanity is (uite e'treme# $his was the

reason why &sma mentioned, &s usual with Nietzsche, we can debate the recise meaning

of this crytic simile#" $his statement shows that the author is e'ecting a fair amount of

arguments over the imact of lay has over humanity#

&sma claimed that lay is rarely raised in hilosohy# He mentioned that hilosohy has

had little consideration of laying# Philosohers such as Plato and &ristotle ointed out that

lay is an abnormality to life# Plato enned his disaroval of artistry in his boo), $he

*eublic", and &ristotle+s claim was that lay serves only as a breather for hard wor)ers#

in)ing to &ristotle+s -ree) affiliations, scholar" is associated with the word leisure which

is s)ole" in -ree)# Juvenal, a *oman oet, described bread and circuses" to the distractions

of *oman citizens towards their resonsibilities# $hese were the ob.ections that disaroved

lay in hilosohy#

/ronically, Friedrich Nietzsche was a -erman hilosoher, a oet and a -ree) scholar# He

was a hilosoher who measured the imortance of lay, a oet li)e Juvenal, and a -ree)

scholar li)e Plato and &ristotle, which have been associated to s)ole"# &sma used Friedrich

Nietzsche as an e'amle of a hilosoher who shared similar traits as Plato, &ristotle and

Juvenal to oint out that not all hilosohers comletely rule out lay in hilosohy#


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&sma then referred to a comosition written by 0ertrand *ussell in 1234, /n Praise of

/dleness" to validate that hilosohy still e'ists in lay# $he sentences he highlighted, the

modern man thin)s that everything ought to be done for the sa)e of something else, and never

for its own sa)e" and the road to hainess and roserity lies in an organized diminution of

wor)" formed as his re.oinders that offered an otimistic view of lay in hilosohy#

&sma then inferred lay in the conte't of animal life, which he ointed out that lay is

evident in the diverse mammal class# *esearch have shown that lay among mammals serves

as a communication means which forms relationshis, friendshis and e'erience that results

in hainess# He relates to Jaa) Pan)se detailing how rats lay, and how rats laugh" to

symbolise that rats are hay while laying# 5sing the research findings, &sma used the

conte't of animal life to state that lay has good effects#

$he research findings on animal life, romted animal scientists to suggest that lay has also

transformed social bonding of humans# However, this may lead to a generalisation that these

observations of the animal life will hel us better understand ourselves, since humans are

mammals too# /n the boo) $he 6'ression of the 6motions in 7an and &nimals" by 8harles

9arwin, Paul 6)man and Philli Prodger, it was mentioned that animals have more limited

e'ressions than humans"# $hus, it is unfair to comare humans to animals#

&sma suggested that lay should be divided into two main categories being active and

assive# $he assive forms also being called as amusements which seem to reduce creativity

and activity because such forms of lay does not re(uire any s)ill or effort# $he active form

on the other hand, romotes energy in activities which uses s)ill, effort and ractice# He then

inferred sorts, music and chess and even the effort to understand the thoughts of self, are


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e'amles of active lay# 7usic which &sma defined as an e'amle of an active form of lay,

was used as a conte't to show us that we should not only thin) of success, that sometimes we

neglect the fun during the rocess to success#

&sma claims that $he sta)es for lay are higher than we thin)"# He continued to e'lain that

lay ma)es us thin) lesser about our immoral aims and wants# He e'lains that during lay

we seldom thin) of wor) and e'ternal factors, but rather thin) of ourselves and having fun#

However, these are claims that could have e'aggerated lay, similar to the highest form of

humanity" mentioned by Nietzsche# /t falls under the fallacy of begging the (uestion, where

&sma have listed the good effects of lay to favour his claim on the sta)es of lay"#

&sma stated in his conclusion that we can attain the highest form of humanity" when we

hysically and mentally ut our hearts into active forms of activities, we will then achieve

hainess for ourselves and others, and solely for the ositives that derives from the

activities# $he conclusion serves as a re.oinder to those who criticise lay is not imortant to

humanity#

/ agree with the &sma+s overall claim of lay being the highest form of humanity" to a

certain e'tent#

Firstly, / agree with how the word lay" is being highlighted in various forms and

definitions by &sma, reminding us that lay remains as art of us today# However, lay might

have been overly e'aggerated by being as art of the highest level of humanity" also )nown

as the holy yea", which could be begging the (uestion#


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He then concentrated on the toic on hilosohy where hilosohers such as Plato and

&ristotle ridiculed lay, shrugging it off as an abnormality in life# &sma showed that he was

disagreeing that lay has no involvement in hilosohy by listing out his ob.ections# He had

two arguments, first being Friedrich Nietzsche who wrote the novel $hus %o)e

arathustra" which listed out the connections between lay and human nature# His second

argument was 0ertrand *ussel who wrote /n Praise of /dleness"# / agree with these

arguments because they contain content which allows readers to believe that lay is art of

hilosohy#

However, / do not agree with two of &sma+s claims#

Firstly, / do not agree with how the good effects of lay in animal life affects humans# $his

can be seen as a hasty generalisation of lay in animal life to human life# Humans are not

animals, and animals are not humans either# &lthough there is sufficient research to rove that

animals are having fun while laying", this does not mean that humans will react the same

as animals during lay#

%econdly, / do not agree with the rest of &sma+s claims such as sta)es for lay are higher

than we thin)", because this could be begging the (uestion" such that &sma used the

favoured conclusions to suort his claim#

/n conclusion, / believe that lay is imortant to humanity, but there is a limit to the imact of

lay has over our lives#

;1133 words

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TG04 YongJieHuiJeffrey CCO101 TMA