Introduction
Human beings have always strived for better life. The history of development of human society
essay service in larger terms represents a gradual evolution from a primitive social group to an extremely sophisticated form of co-existence of human beings. At the same time, the evolution of human society is often associated with the improvement of life but in the majority of cases the improvement of life turns to be quantitative rather than qualitative and it is the form that changes while the nature and basic principles of human society remain the same and in actuality have not significantly changed since the epoch of the primitive society which seems to be vanished in the past, but on a profound reflection, remains as close to the contemporary society as some think it used to be.
The improvement of life in the past and now: qualitative vs. quantitative
In fact the problem of quality and quantity of life have been discussed since ancient times and there are many literary works of classics of different epochs and nations which focused on this problem. At the same time this problem remains very important nowadays and is widely discussed. Strangely enough the themes once discussed by classical writers still remain in the focus of attention of contemporary authors.
At this respect it is quite noteworthy to refer to the articles “Quality not Quantity Keeps Us Well”, by R. Eckersley and “Quality, Not Quantity, is Needed in East Pasco”, by R. Riley. At first glance the articles have nothing in common, especially compared to classical literature but on reading them attentively one can easily find that the themes the articles discuss disturbed many classical authors.
In order to better understand this, it is necessary to briefly reveal the problems the articles deal with. R. Eckersley basically discusses health problems, such as obesity and looks for the causes of the problems and eventually the author arrives to the idea that the progress cannot be associated with material development only but psychological and cultural factors have also to be taken into consideration. As for R. Riley, he is mainly concerned about the over development of Pasco region without improvement of quality of what is built and the life in the region at large.
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On reading these articles, I can hardly fail to compare them with the literary works of world classics, such as Willa Cather and Thomas Mann. In fact these authors, in their works “The Professor’s House” by Willa Cather and “Buddenbrooks” by Thomas Mann, raise the problem of quality of life in the context of the quantitative improvement of life. For instance, Willa Cather depicts a man who suffers from surrounding materialism of life where wealth and prosperity are the main values while spiritual and psychological improvement left abandoned to rare individuals who seem to be strangers in the materialistic world. Thomas Mann, in his turn, also depicts the Buddenbrooks’ family who is doomed to become an outcast since they cannot survive in the new economic conditions and their interest and love to art make them unable to compete in the new world.
To a certain extent, Cather’s “Professor’s House” and its main character
https://kingessays.com/character-analysis-essay.php is similar to inhabitants of Pasco since they are also more concerned about the quality of life, of new buildings of the development at large but not in quantitative characteristics, they are conservative and wants to lead traditional way of life without such dramatic changes as the over development forces them to face. It seems as if Professor Godfrey St. Peter has a house in Pasco and wants to sustain his old life and values.
As for Mann’s Buddenbrooks their problems are exactly like the problems of the contemporary society suffering from different illnesses which, as R. Eckersley underlines, are socio-economic by nature, such as obesity, for instance, and they result from lack of cultural, spiritual and psychological development, people can’t simply cope with the new situation in the world and they suffer physically and spiritually as well as Buddenbrooks, being interested in art and spiritual life more than in improvement of their socio-economic position, arrive to their financial ruin.
Current arguments as for quality and quantity of life
On analysing the articles in details, it becomes clear that the contemporary world is characterised by a significant and unparalleled improvement of life, which result in overdevelopment, like in Pasco, and decline of traditional health culture, including food culture, because of socio-economic development and lack of attention to psychological aspects.
On the one hand, the authors of the
response paper articles are quite persuasive. For instance, Eckersley emphasises that wealth is not a synonym of happiness and material prosperity cannot provide high quality of life. At this respect, some associations with Buddenbrooks may be found when the family is satisfied with spiritual self-perfection instead of material prosperity. In fact it is really true that material well-being only cannot make life better. Quantitatively, an individual may be rich but psychologically or spiritually poor that makes his/her life of very low quality. Not surprisingly that Eckersley indicates at the fact that psychological and social problems have deteriorated dramatically especially among young people. The author also estimates that materialism and greed contribute to quantitative improvement of life but not qualitative. However, it is necessary to realise that material or quantitative improvement of life cannot be fully denied because socio-economic decline will also lead to a number of qualitative problems, deteriorated by quantitative ones.
On the other hand, R. Riley underlines that overdevelopment deteriorates the quality of life since it violates traditional way of life, basic traditional values, etc., in other words it destruct the world of professors Gods St. Peters and it sounds quite reasonable because traditional values and norms of life create the basis of spiritual and psychological stability of an individual. However, the progress sis also essential since it can also stimulate not only quantitative but also spiritual qualitative development of an individual through finding new ways and forms of development.
Conclusion
Thus, in conclusion, it is possible to say that, as the articles and book discuss show, it is necessary to find a balance between material, which creates the basis for quantitative improvement of life and psychological and cultural development
https://kingessays.com/psychology-research-paper.php, which improve quality of life. Moreover, it is particularly important to make any kind of progress very carefully and pay a lot of attention to possible consequences of socio-economic progress. It means that human society and each individual should not take the material prosperity as the only goal of life but also pay a lot of attention to spiritual life, traditional values and beliefs in order not to arrive to psychological and moral decline which may also result not only in spiritual sufferings, such as that of Cather’s professor, but also in physical illnesses as Eckersley points out. On the other hand, the overdevelopment, such as in Pasco, is really dangerous but without progress qualitative improvement of life is impossible and as the fate of Buddenbrooks show admiration by art without material background may lead to ruin. Consequently, now it is extremely important to increase the role of qualitative improvement of life along with quantitative one.
Referencing topics:
http://zunal.com/introduction.php?w=762854
https://www.togoparts.com/forum/showthread.php?fid=6&tid=84696
https://en.mypen.net/news/298020
https://crockor.com.au/buy-sell-trade/books-magazines/trust-in-managerial-relationships-by-sally-and-david_i236811
