Reasoning on the topic of ends and means. Concepts and definitions on the topics "goals and means"
The good thing about the direction of Goals and Means for the final essay is that it is more relevant than ever right now, in the modern world. Our society currently promotes the culture of consumption, the aesthetics of commercialism, trends - to be in fashion and trendy. And to achieve these social goals, people often use any means.
In literature, including, of course, Russian literature, there are many examples of works in which characters solve moral dilemmas of choosing means, comparing the need for a goal and its price.
This theme is very strongly reflected in the works of Tolstoy, Bunin, Kuprin, Dostoevsky.
In the epic novel War and Peace there are heroes for whom everything around is a means, regardless of ethical factors, for example, these are the Kuragina brother and sister. In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, the main character, a poor and pure-hearted student, decides to kill because he does not know how else to get money to help Sonya and her father.
Unified State Exam 2018: essay on the topic “goals and means”, how to write, what examples to give from literature
The problem of ends and means in an essay can be revealed thanks to the same work by Taras Bulba. Just look at Andriy’s son. For him, the goal is a young lady, he is head over heels in love and is ready to give her his own father. Which is what it does. His remedies work, but his relatives and brothers are not happy about this turn of events. And Andria is overtaken by revenge.
Second story: Crime and Punishment. Raskolnikov is convinced that firm adherence to the goal will help change the course of events. And his tool becomes an ax. He kills the pawnbroker. But this is of little use. Firstly, he realizes how wrong he was, that no one’s human life is worth that. Secondly, another will come to replace the old woman and there will be no end to this vicious circle.
A thesis is the main idea whose truth needs to be proven. There should not be many theses in the essay, because the volume of work is limited by the requirement that the essay contain 250 words, and for each thesis it is necessary to write arguments, give examples, and draw a conclusion. 2 theses, in my opinion, are quite enough. It's better to just focus on one thing.
The main theses on a given topic, as I imagine it, could be as follows:
- Does the end justify the means?
- Are all means good to achieve the goal?
- Can a noble goal justify unseemly means to achieve it?
- Is it possible to live without a goal? Why is this dangerous?
- Can a means to an end be a life goal?
- What goals can be considered high?
- How to relate your own goal to the goals of other people?
The list can be continued, but I think I have already convinced everyone that the topic is very broad, so it needs to be narrowed and limited a little. This is still an essay, not a dissertation.
The most suitable work that illustrates most of the proposed theses may be F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment.”
I will give an example of just one argument (proof of the correctness of the thesis that a noble goal must be achieved by noble methods and means): if the goal is noble, then it cannot be selfish, and the one who strives for such a goal, first of all, does not think about himself, and this means that when choosing the means of realizing his goal, this person cannot but be guided by the same noble principles.
Examples of school essays on the topic "Revenge and generosity"
Revenge has existed for a long time.
The Drevlyans took revenge on Prince Igor.
Princess Olga took revenge on the Drevlyans for the death of her husband.
The Montague and Capulet families no longer knew what caused their enmity, but they continued to feud to death. The victims of this enmity were young lovers - Romeo and Juliet.
The chain reaction of revenge is endless. There are many things in the world that can cause the death of a loved one. There are events that are difficult to survive. Revenge is sharp. It affects both the victim and the avenger, binding them forever, and the death or disappearance of one does not mean the end of the suffering of the other. It is impossible to adapt to the thirst for revenge. In the East they say: if you decide to take revenge, it is better to prepare two coffins at once.
The consequences of revenge, inflicted impulsively, in a state of passion, have the force of an explosion. But there is also petty revenge, mutual “pins”, perhaps witty, very quickly get out of control. For many people it turns into some kind of sport - rules, a system of blows in response. Life becomes hell, and no one can figure out who started it first. There can be no winners in this situation.
At the beginning of the 20th century, psychoanalysts established that the need for revenge is associated with a person’s desire to manage his life. When this is impossible, the avenger is capable of inflicting serious injuries even on himself - just to reproach the person who needs revenge. The terrible destructive power of revenge is incompatible with a humane personality.
Revenge has no meaning. But how many people, like the Count of Monte Cristo, build their lives on revenge! Today, in an aggressive world, a person cannot survive without an appropriate aggressive reaction.
Even in biblical times, the Christian religion offered to abandon the path of revenge, forgive each other great and small evils and live in harmony. But humanity is still following this path, living according to the rules of ancient times: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The destruction of the World Trade Center towers in New York by terrorist planes results in a new war in Afghanistan - innocent people killed and maimed. Infinite evil can destroy our entire planet, about which Yuri Gagarin said: “Take care of our Earth, it is so small!” Probably, you need to rise high - into space itself, above yourself, above humanity, in order to see the Earth and feel what our first cosmonaut felt.
People must give up the desire to destroy. It is important to rise above yourself, step over terrible feelings and dare to live without evil. We must learn to forgive. There is even a science that was developed by New Age psychologists - the science of forgiveness. Let those who don’t know how to do it just really want it. Start living again. And be happy.
Essay-reasoning on the thematic area of Revenge and generosity
Generosity and mercy are integral character traits of a good person.
Generosity is manifested in the ability to give in to someone not for the sake of profit, but to show kindness.
A generous person knows how to sacrifice himself if necessary.
Mercy is a manifestation of sincere love for one’s neighbor and a constant desire to help.
Mercy is shown to loved ones, to complete strangers, and to animals.
Helping a stranger on the street or feeding dogs in the freezing winter are all examples of mercy. There is a lot of evil and cruelty in the world. But if each of us developed such positive and wonderful qualities as mercy and generosity, then there would be more good.
Essay on the topic of Revenge and generosity
What is revenge?
Everyone has their own opinion, but all these opinions are united by only one meaning - this is evil in its manifestation.
By hating another, trying to offend someone else, we first of all humiliate only ourselves.
Life is a cruel boomerang that will definitely return, no matter how much you run from it.
Unfortunately, not everything can be punished by the law, but everything will be punished by the judgment of God.
So why take revenge on people?
Is this really what self-esteem speaks to us?
Only strong people know how to forgive.
Forgive not in words, but with your soul and heart.
Forgive sincerely and with a smile.
In my opinion, these qualities are given to us in order to be called people.
Not every person who has experienced grief, insults, humiliation and life’s difficulties will be able to lend a helping hand to their offenders, and not only to the offenders, but simply to those who are just as offended.
There is probably too much evil in our world that revenge has come to be taken for granted.
But will we prove anything to anyone by taking revenge?
Hardly. And whether we will need all this is also unknown.
I would like everyone to think about their actions and deeds.
You don't always have to hold a grudge. Let her go, otherwise she will never let you go.
What lengths are graduates willing to go to achieve their goals?
Text: Anna Chainikova
Photo: artkogol.ru
“Goals and means” - this is the third direction proposed for eleventh-graders for the final essay. Let’s try to figure out together what questions we should ask ourselves, what works we should remember, so that we can choose a topic from this direction without fear or doubt.
FIPI comment:
The concepts of this direction are interrelated and allow us to think about a person’s life aspirations, the importance of meaningful goal setting, the ability to correctly correlate the goal and the means of achieving it, as well as the ethical assessment of human actions.
Many literary works feature characters who deliberately or mistakenly choose unsuitable means to realize their plans. And it often turns out that a good goal only serves as a cover for true (base) plans. Such characters are contrasted with heroes for whom the means of achieving a high goal are inseparable from the requirements of morality.
Vocabulary work
“Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” by S. I. Ozhegov and N. Yu. Shvedova:
A GOAL is an object of aspiration, what is needed, it is desirable to achieve.
MEANS - a technique, a method of action to achieve something.
Synonyms
Target- task, aspiration, intention, dream.
Means- way, technique, method of achieving (goal).
What might the goals be?
- Noble (serving the ideals of goodness, justice; the Motherland and the people)
- Low (selfish, selfish, disfiguring the human soul)
As part of this thematic area, schoolchildren are invited to reflect on life guidelines and human priorities. When choosing their own path, everyone makes decisions, sets goals and goes towards them. Both goals and means of achieving them are different.
By what goals a person sets for himself, one can judge his life priorities and what he sees as the meaning of life.
What is more important for a person - selfless help to people, serving the ideals of goodness, or acquisitiveness, selfish life “for oneself”, an unprincipled desire to “go over the head” to achieve one’s goal? This is exactly the question he poses to his heroes. V. Rozov in the play “The Wood Grouse’s Nest”.
The author's focus is on the family of a major party worker, Sudakov. His daughter Iskra works in the newspaper's letters department, where there is an endless stream of complaints and requests for help from desperate people. The girl devotes all her free time to sorting out correspondence, answering letters and helping people; in this she sees her calling and purpose. Her husband, Georgy Yasyunin, a “young, promising” resident of Ryazan, whose name his native village will one day certainly be named, is building a career with the same dedication. Having grown up in poverty, he tries with all his might to become one of the people, while having no moral restrictions on the means of achieving his goal. Iskra's family, who warmly welcomed him, became such a means for him. Arriving at Sudakov’s house as a half-starved, downtrodden and helpful young man, Yegor spread his wings, and not without Sudakov’s support, he began to quickly move up the career ladder and finally surpassed his benefactor. Frankly with his mistress Ariadne, Yegor admits that he never loved Iskra and married her only out of gratitude for the human concern and help she provided: “I, of course, treated her well, and, I won’t lie, entering this house didn’t seem like something terrible to me either, I would even say, on the contrary. But all this, you understand, was wrong, a mistake. And now, when all this nonsense fell away, when I had completely, as they say, acclimatized, I suddenly realized: ah-ah-ah, what did I do, how wrong I behaved. I confused ordinary human sympathy and gratitude for it with love.”. However, it’s hard to believe that Yegor knows how to be grateful. Having received everything possible from Sudakov, he considers him and life in his family a “passed stage”: “...now I have to enter a new phase. Otherwise, that’s it, the end, the lid, then the bottom, the border of the final station.”. The family of his new boss Koromyslov, Ariadne’s father, will later become exactly the same means to achieve his goal for Yegor. She is young and naive, so she does not understand Iskra’s warning words about Yegor’s true face: “He will trample you, wipe his feet on you and walk over you.”.
According to Natalya Gavrilovna, Iskra’s mother, the most dangerous people are such cynical and unprincipled people, ready to go over the heads of even those people who helped them.
Sudakov cannot believe that his son-in-law can betray his family and him personally: “Egor won’t go anywhere, he doesn’t have that in his mind. In the end, he won’t leave because of me, he’s attached to me, he loves me.”, he says to his wife. However, Sudakov is mistaken - Egor does not know such feelings as affection and gratitude. Unfortunately, he is not the only one. As soon as Yegor receives an appointment to a higher position, his fellow sycophant Zolotarev comes to congratulate him, formulating the attitude of this type of people like him and Yasyunin towards others: “But actually, don’t give a damn about them. Old stuff is just old stuff. What is he to you now, right? Relatives, and only... Yesterday’s roast.” Family relationships for such people do not play any role, love will not make their heart tremble either, gratitude is unfamiliar to them, and a person is interesting only as long as one can get benefits with his help.
At the end of the play, Yegor is expelled from the Sudakovs’ house; even to the arriving guests, after an awkward pause, he is introduced as “Georgy Samsonovich Yasyunin, neighbor.” And this is fair, because a person who cynically turns others into a means of achieving his goals is doomed to loneliness.
Aphorisms and sayings of famous people:
- To whom the goal is permitted, the means are also permitted. (Herman Busenbaum, Jesuit)
- Some Jesuits argue that any means is good as long as the goal is achieved. Not true! Not true! It is unworthy to enter a clean temple with feet defiled by the mud of the road. (I. S. Turgenev)
- No goal is so high as to justify unworthy means to achieve it. (A. Einstein)
- Let no one stray one step from the honest path under the plausible pretext that it is justified by a noble goal. Any wonderful goal can be achieved by honest means. And if you can’t, then this goal is bad. (C. Dickens)
- No person can be a means to another person's ends. (E. Fromm)
- A purposeful person finds means, and when he cannot find them, he creates them. (W. Channing)
- Happy is the one who has a goal and sees the meaning of life in this. (F. Schelling)
- For a man who does not know which harbor he is heading for, no wind will be favorable. (Seneca)
- If you are heading towards your goal and stop along the way to throw stones at every dog that barks at you, you will never reach your goal. (F. M. Dostoevsky)
- When it seems to you that a goal is unattainable, do not change the goal - change your action plan. (Confucius)
- You need to set yourself tasks that are higher than your strengths: firstly, because you never know them anyway, and secondly, because strength appears as you complete an unattainable task. (B. L. Pasternak)
- If selfish well-being is the only goal of life, life quickly becomes purposeless. (R. Rolland)
What questions are worth thinking about?
- Why is it important to have a purpose in life?
- Can a person live without a goal?
- What can a lack of purpose in a person’s life lead to?
- Why is aimless existence dangerous?
- What helps a person achieve his goal?
- Are there unattainable goals?
- What is the difference between a dream and a goal?
- Is it possible to judge a person by what goals he sets for himself?
- Achieving what goal can bring satisfaction?
- Can a goal justify the means to achieve it?
- When does achieving a goal not bring happiness?
Approximate topics for the final essay 2017-2018 (list). Direction "Goals and means".
Is it possible to say that in war all means are good?
Does the end justify the means?
How do you understand the saying: “The game is not worth the candle”?
Why is it important to have a purpose in life?
What is the purpose for?
Do you agree with the statement: “A person who certainly wants something forces fate to give up”?
How do you understand the saying: “When the goal is achieved, the path is forgotten”?
Achieving what goal brings satisfaction?
Confirm or refute the statement of A. Einstein: “If you want to lead a happy life, you must be attached to the goal, and not to people or things”?
Is it possible to achieve a goal if the obstacles seem insurmountable?
What qualities should a person have to achieve great goals?
Is it true that Confucius said: “When it seems to you that a goal is unattainable, do not change the goal - change your plan of action”?
What does "great goal" mean?
Who or what helps a person achieve his goal in life?
How do you understand O. de Balzac’s statement: “To reach the goal, you must first of all go”?
Can a person live without a goal?
How do you understand the statement of E.A. According to “No transport will be favorable if you don’t know where to go”?
Is it possible to achieve a goal if everything is against you?
What does a lack of purpose in life lead to?
What's the difference between a true and a false target?
How is a dream different from a goal?
Why is aimless existence dangerous?
How do you understand M. Gandhi’s saying: “Find a goal, resources will be found.”
How to achieve the goal?
Do you agree with the statement: “He walks faster who walks alone”?
Can a person be judged by his goals?
Is it possible to justify great goals achieved through dishonest means?
How does society influence the formation of goals?
Do you agree with A. Einstein’s statement: “No goal is so high that it justifies unworthy means to achieve it”?
Are there unattainable goals?
How do you understand the words of J. Orwell: “I understand how; I do not understand why"?
Can a good goal serve as a cover for base plans?
Do you agree with A. Rand’s statement: “Only those in whom aspirations are extinguished are lost forever”?
In what life situations does achieving a goal not bring happiness?
What can a person who has lost his goal in life be capable of?
Does achieving a goal always make a person happy?
What is the purpose of human existence?
Should you set “unattainable” goals for yourself?
How do you understand the phrase “go over your head”?
What is the difference between a “momentary desire” and a “goal”?
How are a person's moral qualities related to the means he chooses to achieve his goals?
How do you understand L. da Vinci’s statement: “He who strives for the stars does not turn around”?
List of references for preparing for the final essay. "Goals and Means".
Jean-Baptiste Moliere "Tartuffe"
Jack London " "
William Thackeray "Vanity Fair"
Ayn Rand "Atlas Shrugged"
Theodore Dreiser "The Financier"
M. A. Bulgakov " And " , "Dog's heart"
I. Ilf, E. Petrov “Twelve Chairs”
V.A. Kaverin "Two Captains"
F. M. Dostoevsky"Crime and Punishment", "The Brothers Karamazov", "Idiot"
A. R. Belyaev “The Head of Professor Dowell”
B. L. Vasiliev“And the dawns here are quiet”
Winston Groom "Forrest Gump"
A.S. Pushkin"Captain's daughter",
"Mozart and Salieri"
J. Tolkien "The Lord of the Rings"
O. Wilde “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
I. Goncharov« »
I.S. Turgenev"Fathers and Sons"
L.N. Tolstoy"War and Peace"
M.A. Sholokhov “The Fate of Man”
D.S. Likhachev “Letters about the good and the beautiful”
A.P. Chekhov ""
R. Gallego “White on black”
O. de Balzac “Shagreen skin”
I.A. Bunin"Mr. from San Francisco"
N.V. Gogol
"Overcoat"
,
"Dead Souls"
M.Yu. Lermontov
"Hero of our time"
V.G. Korolenko “The Blind Musician”
E.I. Zamyatin "We"
V.P. Astafiev "Tsar Fish"
B. Polevoy “The Tale of a Real Man”
E. Schwartz
"The Dragon"
A. Azimov “Positronic Man”
A. De Saint-Exupéry “The Little Prince”
The problem of finding the meaning of life, the path of life. The problem of understanding (loss, gain) of the purpose of life. The problem of a false goal in life. (What is the meaning of human life?)
Abstracts
The meaning of human life lies in self-realization.
A high goal, service to ideals allows a person to reveal the powers inherent in him.
Serving the cause of life is the main goal of man.
The meaning of human life is in the knowledge of truth, faith, happiness...
A person cognizes the world around him for self-knowledge, for the knowledge of eternal truths.
Quotes
Need to live! At the last line! On the last line... (R. Rozhdestvensky).
“To live honestly, you have to struggle, get confused, struggle, make mistakes, start and quit, and start again, and quit again, and always struggle and lose. And calmness is spiritual meanness” (L. Tolstoy).
- “The meaning of life is not to satisfy your desires, but to have them” (M. Zoshchenko).
- “You must love life more than the meaning of life” (F.M. Dostoevsky).
- “Life, why were you given to me?” (A. Pushkin).
- “Without passions and contradictions there is no life” (V.G. Belinsky).
- “Life is boring without a moral goal” (F.M. Dostoevsky).
Literary arguments
In the novel L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" reveals the theme of the search for the meaning of life. In order to understand its interpretation, it is necessary to analyze the search paths of Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky. Let's remember the happy moments in the life of Prince Andrei: Austerlitz, Prince Andrei's meeting with Pierre in Bogucharovo, the first meeting with Natasha... The goal of this path is to find the meaning of life, to understand oneself, one's true calling and place on earth. Prince Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov are happy when they come to the idea that their lives should not be for them alone, that they must live in such a way that all people do not live independently of their lives, so that their lives are reflected on everyone and so that they all live together .
And A. Goncharov. "Oblomov." A good, kind, talented person, Ilya Oblomov, was unable to overcome himself and did not reveal his best traits. The absence of a high purpose in life leads to moral death. Even love could not save Oblomov.
M. Gorky in the play “At the Lower Depths” showed the drama of “former people” who have lost the strength to fight for their own sake. They hope for something good, understand that they need to live better, but do nothing to change their fate. It is no coincidence that the play begins in a rooming house and ends there.
“A person needs not three arshins of land, not an estate, but the entire globe. All of nature, where in the open space he could demonstrate all the properties of a free spirit,” wrote A.P. Chekhov. Life without a goal is a meaningless existence. But the goals are different, such as, for example, in the story “Gooseberry”. Its hero, Nikolai Ivanovich Chimsha-Himalayan, dreams of purchasing his own estate and planting gooseberries there. This goal consumes him entirely. In the end, he reaches her, but at the same time almost loses his human appearance (“he’s put on weight, he’s flabby... - just behold, he’ll grunt into the blanket”). A false goal, an obsession with the material, narrow, and limited, disfigures a person. He needs constant movement, development, excitement, improvement for life...
I. Bunin in the story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” showed the fate of a man who served false values. Wealth was his god, and this god he worshiped. But when the American millionaire died, it turned out that true happiness passed the man by: he died without ever knowing what life was.
Many heroes of Russian literature are looking for an answer to the question about the meaning of human life, about the role of man in history, about their place in life, they constantly doubt and reflect. Similar thoughts worry both Pushkin’s Onegin and the main character of the novel M.Yu. Lermontov “Hero of Our Time” Pechorin: “Why did I live? For what purpose was I born?..” The tragedy of their fate is clearly understood “between the depth of nature and the pitifulness of actions” (V.G. Belinsky).
Evgeny Bazarov (I.S. Turgenev. “Fathers and Sons”) goes further than his literary predecessors: he defends his beliefs. Raskolnikov even commits a crime to prove the correctness of his theory.
There is something similar in the hero of M. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”. Grigory Melekhov, in search of truth, is capable of internal changes. He is not satisfied with “simple answers” to the complex questions of time. All these heroes, of course, are different, but they are close in their restlessness, desire to understand life and determine their place in it.
A. Platonov’s story “The Pit” touches on the problem of finding the meaning of life. The writer created a grotesque that testifies to the mass psychosis of universal obedience that has taken over the country! The main character Voshchev is the exponent of the author's position. Among the communist leaders and the dead masses, he doubted the human correctness of what was happening around him. Voshchev did not find the truth. Looking at the dying Nastya, he thinks: “Why now do we need the meaning of life and the truth of universal origin, if there is no little faithful person in whom the truth would be joy and movement?” Platonov wants to find out what exactly motivated the people who continued to dig the hole with such diligence!
A.P. Chekhov. The story “Ionych” (Dmitry Ionych Startsev)
M. Gorky. Stories “The Old Woman Izergil” (The Legend of Danko).
I. Bunin “Mr. from San Francisco.”
Possible introduction/conclusion
At a certain point in life, a person certainly thinks about who he is and why he came into this world. And everyone answers these questions differently. For some, life is a carefree movement with the flow, but there are also those who, making mistakes, doubting, suffering, rise to the heights of truth in search of the meaning of life.
Life is a movement along an endless road. Some travel along it “on official business”, asking questions: why did I live, for what purpose was I born? ("Hero of our time"). Others are frightened by this road, running to their wide sofa, because “life touches you everywhere, it gets you” (“Oblomov”). But there are also those who, making mistakes, doubting, suffering, rise to the heights of truth, finding their spiritual self. One of them is Pierre Bezukhov, the hero of the epic novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace".
The problem of freedom of moral choice. The problem of choosing a life path. The problem of moral self-improvement. The problem of internal freedom (non-freedom). The problem of individual freedom and human responsibility to society.
Abstracts
It depends on each person what the world will be like: light or dark, good or evil.
Everything in the world is connected by invisible threads, and a careless act or an unexpected word can result in the most unpredictable consequences.
Remember your High human responsibility!
A person cannot be deprived of his freedom.
You can't force someone to be happy.
Freedom is a conscious necessity.
We are responsible for other people's lives.
Save while you can, and shine while you live!
A person comes into this world not to say what it is like, but to make it better.
Quotes
Everyone chooses a Woman, a religion, a path for themselves. To serve the devil or the prophet
Everyone chooses for themselves. (Yu. Levitansky)
Above this dark crowd of the Unawakened people, Will you ever rise, O Freedom, Will your golden ray shine?.. (F.I. Tyutchev)
- “Effort is a necessary condition for moral improvement” (L.N. Tolstoy).
- “You can’t even fall freely, because we are not falling in emptiness” (V.S. Vysotsky).
- “Freedom is that everyone can increase their share of love, and therefore good” (L.N. Tolstoy).
- “Freedom is not in not restraining oneself, but in being in control of oneself” (F. M. Dostoevsky).
- “Freedom of choice does not guarantee freedom of acquisition” (J. Wolfram).
- “Freedom is when no one and nothing prevents you from living honestly” (S. Yankovsky).
- “To live honestly, you have to rush, get confused, fight, make mistakes...” (L.N. Tolstoy).