What Others in a Previous Class Wrote

Student A:

In a Taylorian society, people would be "me"-oriented. When you don't believe in anything spiritual, a society would be interested in gratification. The philosophy of "when you're dead, you're dead" would give rise to the attitude of eat, drink, and be merry. If there is nothing after this life, altruism would not exist because doing good is for spiritual afterlife rewards, but if there is no afterlife, Good Samaritanism is not necessary.

If a society that aspires to Berkeley's philosophy, it would place importance on spiritual things and not worldly, material things. I can see a society where people would think a lot alike because God would cause people to perceive things and experiences the same way. Society as a whole would be quite unified because of shared perceptions/beliefs.

Student B:

I think a society that believes in the ideas of Berkeley would seem brainwashed because everyone would follow their faith rather than create their own destinies. Maybe it would be like belonging to a gigantic cult.

I think a Taylorian society would be robot-like or scientific-like (Mr. Spock in original Star Trek?) because things could happen around them and they would always have an explanation for the incident. I think people would not be as gullible as they are now because they would be expected to figure out why something happened.

Student C:

A great portion of a population that believed like Berkeley regarding the spiritual being would greatly affect their community. Restrictions on their daily activities and the production of work they do would be affected (because not so important to "accomplish" anything physical). The community as a whole would be structured to accommodate their beliefs and technological progress would be behind the rest of the world. Therefore, as a whole community they would be more respectful and live in greater harmony.

A world with a group of people believing the Taylor way would appear indifferent and without a spiritual focus. Then again, these people might be more productive in work and not hindered by their inner feelings as spiritual believers are. They would especially stress science and medicine in hopes of living longer, more productive lives (physical immortality would be the ultimate goal).

Student D:

A society could be rather limited in their thinking. If man was bound to consider being as only "mental," other currently-known experiences (sucn as sensory data) would be ignored. (How can one explain the phenomena of feel, smell, taste, etc., without reference to a physical world?) Their value would be discounted. The culture would inhibit growth and exploration of our physical world. Someone (God) would be seen as controlling things. Hence, there might be taboos, shunning, etc.

Taylor supports material/physical things. So if a society believed like him, they might experience challenge dealing with the spiritual or supernatural. There may be little exercise given to the "unexplainable." This can give way to narrow, biased thinking, again limiting a societal approach to problems. How would they handle it if a situation arose where science could not find an answer?

Student E:

If Berkelians believed that everything is spiritual, it would give their culture a more respectful view of everything surrounding them in the physical, material world because everything would be or have a spirit, even "non-living" matter. If the spiritual is so real, all would be sacred. It would be difficult to start a new industry or clear new land for agriculture because that would mean disturbing the spirits of the place. Hence, they would probably spend much time placating the spirits with sacrifices, songs, prayers, etc.

In Taylor's world, it would be a really physically-controlled culture. No one would have a mind or a say because everyone would be controlled by whomever is in power—why not? I feel an example of this type of thinking and beliefs would be the old Russian Communist state. They just did what they were told or else. Of course, the goal would be to become the one in power so that one could reap the benefits and enjoy life in this physical world we inhabit.