Nature In An Episode Of The Popular Term Paper

PAGES
2
WORDS
625
Cite

Nature In an episode of the popular television show The Simpsons, Lisa tries to talk Mr. Burns into developing environmental awareness. The unlikely duo picks up discarded cans, bottles, and other recyclable materials. On the beach one day, Lisa finds a plastic six-pack holder with a live fish caught in one of the rings. After telling Mr. Burns that six-pack holders are potential death-traps for small animals, she frees the fish and tosses him back in the water. No sooner than the fish hits the surface of the water does a large shark sails up, grabs the fish and ends its life by eating it. This story illustrates part of John Stuart Mill's philosophy of nature: nature cannot teach us how to live. On the one hand, Mill states that following nature is unavoidable because natural law dictates all human action. On the other hand, nature, with all its beauty and splendor, is essentially cruel. Weather phenomenon and natural disasters wreak...

...

This Simpsons episode proves that "nature cannot be a proper model for us to imitate," (180). Throwing the fish into the sea only resulted in its demise, the opposite of what Lisa intended. While following nature remains a romantic notion, Mill is correct in stating that nature is not a proper role model. Following nature is a lofty ideal but one that would result in amorality.
Moreover, to follow nature would also negate free will. According to Mill's first definition, nature is "what takes place without the agency, or without the voluntary and intentional agency, of man," (178). This would imply that nature governs and dictates all human actions and creations. We have no free will, no choice but to follow nature. However, Lisa acted with total free will, and contrary to natural law.

No other animal would have…

Cite this Document:

"Nature In An Episode Of The Popular" (2003, July 10) Retrieved April 25, 2024, from
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/nature-in-an-episode-of-the-popular-151289

"Nature In An Episode Of The Popular" 10 July 2003. Web.25 April. 2024. <
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/nature-in-an-episode-of-the-popular-151289>

"Nature In An Episode Of The Popular", 10 July 2003, Accessed.25 April. 2024,
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/nature-in-an-episode-of-the-popular-151289

Related Documents

American Family in Television Entertainment Popular Culture: The American Family in Television Entertainment In the 1950s and 1960s, television entertainment depicted a "traditional" American family, which generally equaled a man and woman who were married, homeowners, had at least one car (sometimes two), and had two to three children (Taylor, 1989). There were exceptions, of course, but television indicated to the American people that the "norm" was to have this particular type

Leaving the bleak Post- Communistic country I lived in and entering the United States has been an experience that managed to change everything, from me beliefs to my perceptions, from the perspective on art to the way I saw art, the art process and all the new currents I had discovered in the new country. Of course, the first notable thing that happened to me was that I discovered, with some

When the driver looked in the hole, he found a dog sleeping inside -- and only when the dog was chased away would the elephant place the log into the hole (Holdrege, 2001). Octopi -- Suprisingly, octopi have been shown to use tools. The will retrieve discarded coconut shells, manipulate them, and then reassemble them to use as a makeshift shelter (Coghlan, 2009). Other octopi will use Jellyfish and Portugese

The parents, teachers, and other adults express their id desires on South Park too. The core human instincts that Freud discussed in his theories, such as instinctual aggression, become common motifs on South Park. Related to the aggression instinct, Freud's theory of the death wish is also present on almost every episode of the show. Until recent years of the production, the character Kenny was killed in every show. The

Welcome to Homicide Case "Welcome to Homicide" "There's a theory that every time you leave an area, you always leave evidence behind, no matter what, no matter how careful you are; and that's why there's forensics" (Santy, 2007). Forensic science has seen a number of major developments over the years. Throughout its evolution, analytic techniques have become finer tuned and accurate, allowing for much greater law enforcement practices. Today, forensics relies

TV Today and Yesterday South Park and I Dream of Jeannie: A Comparison/Contrast Essay The 1960s and 1970s were a time of social revolution, reflected somewhat in the television shows of that era. Yet, those same shows may seem quaint and tame by today's standards. Indeed, when one holds the two up for comparison, one can see a much more obvious type of innocence in the former than in the latter. Still,