PUB: The New York Mills Regional Cultural Center's Great American Think-Off.

The Great American Think-Off, 2010 Edition

The 2010 debate question has been released: "Do the wealthy have an obligation to help the poor?" will be debated by four finalists on Saturday, June 12th. We will accept essays of up to 750 words until April 1, 2010 (postmark date).

America’s premier amateur philosophy contest, The Great American Think-Off, releases its 2010 essay and debate question: "Do the wealthy have an obligation to help the poor?" In writing essays on this question, potential debaters may address individuals, groups, or nations as the essayist determines. The Great Debate will be held in New York Mills, Minnesota on Saturday, June 12th, 2010 before a live audience.

Entering the competition is easy. Just submit an essay of 750 words or less by April 1, 2010 (postmark date). You may send your essay in one of three ways: through the mail to Great American Think-Off, New York Mills Regional Cultural Center, P.O. Box 246, New York Mills, MN 56567 or email to nymills@kulcher.org (no attachments) or submit on-line at www.think-off.org. There is no submission fee--submissions are accepted at no charge to writers.

The key to writing a successful essay is to ground your argument in personal experience. The judges are looking for essays that address this central problem of moral philosophy by speaking about personal experience rather than abstract philosophical reasoning. Tell a good story that shows a firm standing on one side or the other of this philosophical question.

A panel of judges will select four finalists to come to New York Mills, Minnesota, for the final debate to be held June 12, 2010. The names of the four finalists, who each receive $500 plus travel, food and lodging expenses, will be announced May 1, 2010. The winner is decided by the audience attending the debate on June 12th and she or he will be named “America’s Greatest Thinker for 2010”.

via think-off.org

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All my life I have been searching for trying to understand the difference between good and evil. Many times I have been asking myself: did Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who sacrificed her life in the service of the poor, the sick and the outcast, do so of her free choice or because she had a character that, even without willing it, drove her to act in that way? Moreover, I have been asking myself: is sacrificing oneself for the benefit of others truly according to God’s will? I have been asking myself whether the behaviors and the actions of human beings were not caused by unconscious drives; whether it was a mere illusion to consider ‘free will’ and ‘free judgement’ really possible. I think that nobody who can freely choose between good and evil consciously opts for the latter. Everyone looks for good, at least if it is related to his own person. Now, why is it that someone seems a saint and some other seems a demon? What is the difference really between the two? Maybe neither good nor evil, neither angels nor demons, neither saints nor sinners exist. Is it the unconscious drive, the experience or the different way of reacting to them that causes the so-called ‘good’ or ‘bad’ behavior. It is not the fruit of free or conscious acts of will.
The problem is to give a definition of morals or ethics. Many philosophers, starting from Plato have tried to give a definition of what is good and what is evil. Nobody has succeeded in it so far. Therefore some thinker defines the morals a “paraenesis”, an exhortation. But for Christians the only parameter of moral conduct is God, the moral code we have inside ourselves.
In the field of ethics there are two main streams: The deontological and the teleological. For the former the individual must follow the morals rules even if they lead to a wrong result, for the latter what does matter is the aim (telos) of the action and not the rule.
The book I have recently written deepens many moral issues. I want to draw it to your attention, as you may be interested in it. The title is “Travels of the Mind” and it is available at http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TravelsOfTheMind.html
If you have any questions, I am most willing to offer my views on this topic.
Ettore Grillo
— Ettore