The Best Nightlife in Cusco: A Guide to the City's Party Scene

Cusco, Peru is a city known for its rich history and culture, but it's also home to a lively party scene. From bustling bars to trendy clubs, Cusco offers a variety of options for those looking to experience the city's nightlife. Plaza de Armas: A Popular Spot for Nightlife One of the most popular areas for nightlife in Cusco is the Plaza de Armas. This main square in the historic city center is home to a range of bars and restaurants with outdoor seating, perfect for enjoying a drink or a bite to eat while people-watching and taking in the atmosphere. Many of these venues also offer live music, showcasing local talent and adding to the festive ambiance. Bars in Cusco: Relaxed Drinking in a Historic Setting For those looking for a more laid-back experience, Cusco has plenty of bars to choose from. These bars range from traditional to modern, and often offer unique atmospheres to enjoy a drink. Many of these bars are located in historic buildings, providing a unique backdrop to

Philosophers, Buddha, Socrates and Hume

Ethical philosophers have clearly defined the rules of moral conduct befitting of how they believe people should act and make choices. There are many types of ethicists including consequentialist, ethical relativist, virtue ethicist, duty based ethicist (deontological), ethical sentimentalist, power-based ethicist, natural ethicist and the list goes on. This essay will seek to focus on three ethical philosophers, Buddha, Socrates and Hume, explaining their theories and how their theories would influence the decision of an ethical dilemma. The dilemma put forward is a situation which involves a person stealing food for a small starving child, whether this situation is found  acceptable or  not acceptable  will also be discussed based on the theories of the stated philiosophers.
             The philosopher Buddha also known as Gotama Buddha, was one of the greatest Asian thinkers of his time and laid the foundation for Buddhist philosophy(Velez, 2009). His beliefs were based on consequentialism where consequences of actions are weighed and virtue ethics where virtues and moral character are emphasized. The basic principles of Buddhist philosophy include five precepts: (1) To avoid taking the life of beings. (2). To avoid taking things not given. (3)To avoid sensual misconduct .(4) To refrain from lying. (5) To abstain from substances which cause intoxication (Buddha Dharma Education Association & BuddhaNet ,1996).
Based on the second basic precept of Buddha stated above, one should not take things that are not given to you, this signifies that one should have respect for another’s property. Buddha further elaborates on stealing and states that “if we steal from others we steal from ourselves” (San Francisco State University, 2011). Therefore in the ethical dilemma presented   whereby a person chooses to steal food in order to satisfy the hunger of a small starving child, this would be deemed as unacceptable in regards to the philosophies of Buddhism.  Though Buddha saw stealing as wrong, he recognizes the pain and suffering in the world and would desire that the suffering of the starving child  cease. He would suggest following his life example of selflessness and that the person seeks the compassion of others for this hungry child. Buddha, was once a prince with good fortune, however he gave up all he had in order to search for the meaning of suffering, on his journey his “compassion knew no bounds” (San Francisco State University, 2011).
 Another philosopher of ancient times was the virtue ethicist Socrates, though he never wrote any material he still had a profound impact on philosophy and his ideas were written  by his followers such as Plato (Nails, 2009).Socrates main questions  were about justice, love, truth, courage , beauty, knowledge and piety. His ideas believed that: (1) The proper subject –matter of philosophy is the human being. (2) No one does evil intentionally. (3) Goodness is a kind of knowledge. (4) What a person has knowledge of they can give an account of. (5) Death is not an evil (Oregon State University, 2002).
To explain more in depth the second and third tenets of Socrates listed above, he believed that human beings always seek to do good and in spite of the fact that the action of someone may be perceived as extremely horrible, the action was committed as the intention of doing good.  There is no excuse for the wrong committed but more so the recognition of ignorance of what good is on the part of the individual committing the action (Oregon State University, 2002). Thus Socrates’ response to the ethical dilemma of stealing for a hungry child would be based on the knowledge the person has on the concept of good.  The food being stolen would be found acceptable or unacceptable based on the individual concept of  good, one  individual’s perspective might  be to save the life of a child while the another individual would obey the laws of the land which forbids stealing.
Hume, a modern ethical philosopher believed that “moral distinctions are not derived from reason but rather from sentiment” (Cohon, 2010).His philosophies were different from Buddha who focused more on the consequences of actions and reason and Socrates who focused on the individual’s knowledge of good. Hume asserts the following four theses (1) Reason alone cannot be a motive to the will, but rather is the “slave of the passions” (2) Moral distinctions are not derived from reason. (3) Moral distinctions are derived from the moral sentiments: feelings of approval and disapproval felt by spectators who contemplate a character trait or action. (4) While some virtues and vices are natural, others, including justice, are artificial (Cohon, 2010).
            Hume’s assertions affirm the fact that sentiments are what decisions are based on, therefore in the case of the starving child, the choice of whether to steal food in order to cease the hunger of the child is dependent on the sentiments of the individual, that is “we are often impelled to or deterred from action by our opinions of obligation or injustice” (Cohon, 2010).
            To conclude, in order to make a choice when it comes an ethical dilemma several philosophical views may be applied such as following the tenets of  Buddha or  by using your knowledge of good  as suggested by Socrates or following the sentimentalist views posed by Hume.


References
Buddha Dharma Education Association & BuddhaNet. (1996). Buddhists’s Ethics.Retrieved from http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/budethics.htm
Cohon, R. (2010).Hume’s Moral Philosophies: Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume-moral/#ear
Nails, D. (2009). Socrates: Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates/
Oregon State University. (2002). Socrates III : Great Philosophers Retrieved from http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/Philosophers/Socrates/socrates03.html
San Francisco State University. ( 2011). Following Buddha’s footsteps. Retrieved from http://online.sfsu.edu/rone/Buddhism/footsteps.htm

Velez, A.(2009). Buddha:  Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/buddha/#H5

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