<p>Prompt: Stanford students are widely known to possess a sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an idea or an experience you have had that you find intellectually engaging.</p>
<p>Essay: How does one judge morality? This is the question that has been plaguing my mind for the past few months. In English, we have been discussing morality a bit, and I have thought a lot about it. I came to the conclusion that morality is based upon altruism. The way I came to this conclusion is that I believe all problems and wrongdoings stem from pride. Stealing is essentially putting your wants above others needs and the societal welfare. Taking advantage of others, being greedy, and being pompous; all of these come from pride. And so then I confronted myself with another question: How does one decide whether or not his actions are based on pride? The way one would do this would be to ask oneself, If everyone in the world decided to participate in this action, would it benefit society? Interestingly enough, this can be applied to any action that one decided to take. As a result, I have decided that things that I had never before considered immoral actually are because they are based on pride. In philosophy class the other day, we were reading about Immanuel Kant. Essentially, his thoughts were exactly the same as mine. Perhaps I had followed the same thinking process as the great thinker on himself. I felt a little more credible in my newly formed system, and although there are circumstances where this wouldnt necessarily work, asking oneself that question before taking an action is not only helpful, but a moral duty.</p>
<p>Opinions please? Is this the kind of thing they are looking for? should i talk more about the major I am planning on applying under and specific things i find stimulating in that field?</p>