Get Snowmobiles Out of Yellowstone Park Term Paper

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Yellowstone

Aristotle and the Cynics Conspire to get Snowmobiles out of Yellowstone National Park

In the scenario whereby individuals are rampaging across the wilds of Yellowstone National Park, willy-nilly upon snowmobiles, the great Greek philosopher Aristotle (presumably after overcoming his initial surprise at the existence of such a mechanized craft) would remind the snowmobile's users of Book VIII, Chapter 3, of his Ethics. A means of use of the park that is amicable and amenable to all, rather than to one subspecies of user, the snowmobiler, would be most desirable.

In this treatise upon Ethics, Aristotle defines relationships between human beings on the basis of friendships into of good people, friendships based on utility and friendships based on shared pleasures of company. Ethics, for Aristotle, is grounded in a need in human nature, that is, the essence of living human beings to require a just, virtuous, and happy way of life. The aim of human action is a state of happiness, where humans can feel "complete and self-sufficient," a state that could be promulgated by a kinder use of the common grounds of the park. (1097b 21-23).

For Aristotle, happiness is therefore the supreme human good - that is, the ultimate purpose of all human actions. (1097b 21-22). Happiness is a constant state of being, however. It is an activity that one must work for. Sometimes individuals must give something up, like the right to snowmobile all over the park, at all times, to ensure that happiness can be achieved a more holistic sense by others.

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At present, only the snowmobilers are happy, and even they are not really happy in the philosophers' sense of happiness being connected and even synonymous with virtue -- the snowmobilers are merely indulging in the pleasures of the moment, without real regard for the consequences of their actions upon the other users of the park, the park itself, and the financial and environmental state of Yellowstone over the next several years.

Thus, by using Aristotle's schemata, that is the need to achieve the virtuous goal of a state of happiness or happy activity in the park that will result when the park's terrain is safe and preserved all visitors, not merely those who wish to use it for a single activity, one must approach the people involved, and persuade them to stop out of virtue for the environment they are enjoying. If the snowmobilers continue to behave as they do, from a perspective of pure self-interest and momentary pleasure, soon the park will no longer attract visitors. Then, the park will not be able to function financially. Eventually, not even the snowmobilers will be able to make use of it. Thus, the first of Aristotle's appropriate of addressing "the person" involved can be addressed by the rangers informally approaching the rampaging snowmobilers.

The second of the philosopher's appropriates, that of the "amount or things," could be addressed by banning the snowmobiles entirely from the park, if the individuals who use them could not be….....

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