Kierkegaard's Stages

Kierkegaard said that aesthetes think they are completely free and don't have any commitment or desires, they just live with their own rules. The person in the ethical stage think that the aesthetes aren't really free because they always go by their impulses. This can be seen in the movie Journey To The Mysterious Island. In this movie the main character Sean gets a message in Morse Code from his grandfather from an undiscovered island with mysterious species on it. He thinks he can break into this building to translate the message because in the previous movie he was famous for going to the center of the earth with his uncle. Sean gets caught and his step-dad, Hank, thinks he should do something productive with his life and not think of these fantasies. Hank translates the message and they find out that the island does exists. Sean thinks he can just drop everything an go but he still has school, while Hank is the realist and says Sean needs to stay and go to school. In this situation Hank is the person in the ethical stage and Sean is the aesthete. Hank wanted Sean to get a real education and be successful and Sean wanting to go out and be an explorer like his grandfather uncle and dad.

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Civil Duty

One hot summer day it was possibly 92 degrees outside. I was on my way home but I had like two more miles to walk home. I was tired and thirsty so I just wanted to get home and rest. On my way I saw a bike that was just sitting there without any lock. It was nice and yellow, it had a rack on the back to hold my backpack, so I debated on taking it so I could get home faster. I would be able to get a drink, and get food. But I knew it was wrong, so I didn't take it I sucked up the next two miles. And it was a bike too like a fast on that doesn't take much effort to go fast. Immanuel Kant thought of the term Categorical Imperative, it's pretty much when you do things that you think you would want other people to do. Kant would think that in this situation the Categorical Imperative would be if I wanted people to just take my bike if I left it unlocked.

This is a bike