
Christmas is giving. Christmas is sharing. Christmas is the time to do good. Christmas is good.
But what if this great season end? Will giving end? Will sharing end? Will doing good end? Simple and elementary questions, right? But the reality is, it needs tough answer!
Why does some man "good" only when this season come? You might be one of them...or I might be one of them...he he he...I don't want to exclude myself. Why is it really hard to be good?!
Man is hedonistic by nature (you might be arguing me he he he). PLEASURE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PURSUIT OF MANKIND (hedonists philosophy)! Do not deny! Because of this, man thought that pleasure is the only thing that is good for person. But also, hedonists believed that people must be equal, and the way to achieve that, is through allowing much more personal freedom.
Through this philosophy, more individuals ended up in a wrong direction. They do want they want to do. They do want they think is right just to satisfy their needs and pleasure. And more so, they desired to achieve more even they have enough in order to attain the greatest satisfaction shall I say their greatest happiness.
A lot of debates and arguments arose because of hedonism. In order to ease the confussions, hedonism can be conjoined by psychological and ethical egoism.
Psychological egoism is the theory that humans are motivated to pursue what is good for them - to make psychological hedonism: a purely descriptive claim which states that agents naturally seek pleasure; while ethical egoism claims that individuals should seek their own good - to make ethical hedonism the claim that we should act so as to produce our own pleasure.
You might not understand these things for they express deeper views. And it is really hard to understand (whew!) Anyway I will leave this quote that I got from Wikipedia, from the book of Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness, "The Objectivist Ethics". He still viewed pleasure as the proper end of ethics:
"To take "whatever makes one happy" as a guide to action means: to be guided by nothing but one's emotional whims. Emotions are not tools of cognition. . . . This is the fallacy inherent in hedonism--in any variant of ethical hedonism, personal or social, individual or collective. "Happiness" can properly be the purpose of ethics, but not the standard. The task of ethics is to define man's proper code of values and thus to give him the means of achieving happiness. To declare, as the ethical hedonists do, that "the property value is whatever gives you pleasure" is to declare that "the proper value is whatever you happen to value"--which is an act of intellectual and philosophical abdication, an act which merely proclaims the futility of ethics and invites all men to play it deuces wild."
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Why is it Hard to be Good?!
Posted by percival at 11:58 AM 3 comments
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town!"

"Santa Claus is coming to town...Santa Claus is coming to town..." this was the line of a song that struck my mind while I was having a cup of coffee in Starbucks at Manhattan.
This line of a song reminds me that Christmas is coming. A lot of Christmas decorations, big Christmas Trees, wonderful and colorful Christmas lights and a lot more.
Holiday Seasons is really good specially when abundant promos are in your left and right.Like the promos of car companies (TOYOTA, HONDA, MAZDA etc.), saving discounts from groceries and department stores ( Walmart, BestBuy, Circuit City, etc.)
One thing I noticed, though it is great to celebrate Christmas in New York, I still longing for the celebration I used to...a Filipino way of Celebrating Christmas...I am not celebrating Christmas because of my religious belief...but it has been part of the Filipino Tradition or Culture shall I say.
Filipinos here miss the "Puto Bungbong" (not even the best cake in town could compare), "Bibingka" ,(not even the best cookie in New York could compare)...and a lot more...( I will not mention those foods that I knOw many Filipinos are longing for because of my religious belief.)
Yes it is true that Filipinos in New York are celebrating too but as the saying goes, "there's no place like home..." So, is Santa Claus coming to Town?
P.S.
I miss all my friends, my PCSHS faculty and students' friends, AND MOST OF ALL MY FAMILY!!!
Posted by percival at 2:57 PM 4 comments
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
A Question of Intelligence?

I still remember when I was a little boy, I asked my teacher a "dumb question" (as she have said) what is intelligence and where does intelligence come from ( he he he )?
She uttered, "from what part of earth did you get that question?"
As I continue my journey in achieving good status in life I encountered many trials, drastic problems, rigid hindrances and a lot more. Now that I've entered in the field of teaching (A TEACHER HUH!) I still have that question about intelligence.
I have read a lot of studies and articles about Intelligence yet, no one have given a concrete explanation of intelligence. They gave the definition, they made Standardized Tests to measure intelligence but these test are keep on changing and there have been debates how concrete and precise these tests are.
How can you say that successful lawyer is intelligent when in fact he has a broken home? How can you say that a famous doctor is intelligent when in fact he cannot cure his own illness? How can you say that a rich man is intelligent when in fact he doesn't have friends and he is not happy?
Based on educational discussions in school when i was studying it is clear to me that Intelligence Quotient is different from Emotional Quotient? But it is still a question that, if a person feels something or he uses his emotions doesn't he use his intelligence?
How about you? Can you explain intelligence? Is intelligence concrete? How can you really say that a person is intelligent. ( I know that you will use level of intelligence) But who really made this scales are they really intelligent?
Posted by percival at 5:08 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Let's Take a Pause!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the visitors of my blog. You made a great contribution in the success of gathering people with the same field of inclination!
I know that questions posted here are quite tough but you really tried your best to come up with the solutions in every aspect of the questions. I am really proud of all individuals who tried their best in squeezing their mind just to prove that they can make it out of their own! I salute you guys!
Even though you didn't get it right what matters most is your determination to solve the problem. You are all brave men and women but for those who didn't try and afraid to try you have to remember this "It is better to Try and Failed than to Failed to Try"...and forever experience of estimable loss might have been!
For the information of all we have frequent viewers from Australia, Canada, USA, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines.
So thank you very much for your untiring support to make this blog successful!
Hope that this blog will help you entertain and train or even exercise your mind to think critically! May you stay viewing, visiting and participating on my blog. If you have comments, suggestions or even short words don't hesitate to place it in my comments! And you can also link all my posts here in your blog to generate more blogs and gather more friends!!!
Posted by percival at 6:19 PM 0 comments