...Is it Immoral to Watch The Super Bowl? Philosophers must challenge the ideals and beliefs of society to achieve an unbiased view of man’s behaviors. Football is one of the most influential sports in the United States. Most Americans come together to watch two teams battle headtohead on the Super Bowl weekend. Like every game of Football, the teams will rough up the turf and fight each other for points. During the game players will bang each other up and can cause serious injuries. The problem as Steve Almond says in his article to the New York Times is “The sport’s incredible popularity has turned players into national celebrities and has made their mental and physical deterioration frontpage news.” To summarize Mr. Almond’s article, Football is an enjoyable sport but we cannot ignore the fact that it’s causes life threatening injuries to young men. “I love the grace and the poise of the athletes. I love the tension between the ornate structure of the game and its improvisatory chaos, and I love the way great players find opportunity, even a mystical kind of order, in the midst of that chaos (Almond).” As moral thinkers of philosophy how can we sit around ignoring the players? The fans come together to watch, with passion, young men battle it out to win a trophy and godlike fame. With that said fans watching the game are partaking in this ritual. The fans are not just partaking, but influencing the game itself. Buying player’s jerseys or worshiping their favorite...
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...Jeremy Bentham, a philosopher from the 18th century. Bentham’s based his ethical system on the notion that pleasure was far better that physical pain. Bentham utilitarianism appears to be related with hedonism, since he considered moral actions that maximized with pleasure and minimized pain. During the 19th century John Stuart Mills another utilitarian philosopher further advanced the development of this philosophy; however, breaking away from hedonism. For Mill, pleasure or happiness should be calculated by measuring the greater good of people. He also recognized that certain pleasures were superior to others. It important to understand the utilitarianism change the way of thinking. Meanwhile, religious morals are based on rules and divine revelation as the way of thinking, while utilitarianism is the opposite. Utilitarianism outstanding traits are it relatively simple. To understand if an action is moral, there is no need estimate if the consequences are positive or negative. When the good outdoes the bad, it can be considered that the actions are moral. In essence Bentham and Mills were both utilitarian; however each follow a dissimilar type of utilitarianism. Their difference was fairly evident in the information provided above. Because the views of ethical humane hedonism in opposition to psychological self-centered hedonism and the relevance of the principle of utility. Deontological Ethics The 18th Century German Philosopher Immanuel Kant, stated that deontology...
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...Introduction: Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and David Hume (1711-1776) are two of the most influential and remarkable philosophers who have ever lived. Their perspectives on various subjects have certainly left a dent on the topics of literature, history, and philosophy. They were not afraid of turning away from common knowledge, and reinventing certain understandings about the world. Each of these philosophers were known for their new, innovative, and challenging ideas. The topic of causality (the relation between an event and a second event, where the first event is understood to be responsible for the second) was one specifically discussed by both men with great intensity, and their respective opinions shaped the minds of hundreds upon hundreds...
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...CJ Business environment has a big impact on people’s lives and not just theirs but their families as well. Nobody really knows what is going on in the other person live, so I believe that we have to have morals and it really don’t matter what you do for a living. The business environment can be so stressful and can cause a lot of damage with immoral acts. The company as a whole has to make sure that everything and everyone are using morals in the environment. In a business environment, why should people be moral individuals? When we are talking about morals I believe that the business in question should be responsible in making sure that the people that they hire have morals and live by them. The business should also put out what morals they have and want to be followed. When the businesses don’t have morals it can cause lot damage to the company and the people that work for them as well. No morals can destroy lives. Let’s, say for example, In today’s time the people really don’t have a choice on if they health insurance or not. The government is making us have it and if you don’t have health insurance then you have to pay a fine. Some people say " If I can’t afford the insurance then I can’t afford the fine, so the hell with it". But what most people don’t realize is when you file income tax you are paying that fine. To this is immoral because everyone can’t afford health insurance and they live pay check to pay check. It is immoral to make someone...
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...capable of willing to do it” (Sommers & Sommers 2013 p. 242). I do believe that individuals choose their right and wrong mostly based on their desires. Casablanca is a love war movie released in 1942 set in Africa. One of the main characters Rick Blaine is the owner of a nightclub where everyone hangs out and everything happens. In the movie he states he is the type of guy who sticks his head out for nobody, he seemed like a very serious, no game playing type of guy. His nightclub is where the Nazis hang out and conduct business with their enemies to help them get their visas and get into America. In this movie the characters deal with good and evil scenarios in which we can compare to the theories from philosophers Immanuel Kent and John Stuart Mill. Immanuel Kent’s theory was based on categorical imperative and concept of duty, and John Stuart Mill was based on utilitarianism and the concept of the “greatest good for the greatest number”. Categorical imperative is a moral obligation or command that’s unconditionally and universally binding. Moral obligation in other words deontology is the study of right and wrong. Ethics is about deciding whether an action is good or bad and what to do about it if it is "bad." The problem in discussing ethics is that it turns everyone into judge and jury, each deciding what is good or bad behavior, inevitably attempting to impose that judgment on others. The community to which we belong, then, decides the ultimate ethics” (de...
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... Deontology is the ethical view that some actions are morally forbidden or permitted regardless of consequences. One of the most influential deontological philosophers in history is Immanuel Kant who developed the idea of the Categorical Imperative. Kant believed that the only thing of intrinsic moral worth is a good will. Kant says in his work Morality and Rationality “The good will is not good because of what it affects or accomplishes or because of it’s adequacy to achieve some proposed end; it is good only because of it’s willing, i.e., it is good of itself”. A maxim is the generalized rule that characterizes the motives for a person’s actions. For Kant, a will that is good is one that is acting by the maxim of doing the right thing because it is right thing to do. The moral worth of an action is determined by whether or not it was acted upon out of respect for the moral law, or the Categorical Imperative. Imperatives in general imply something we ought to do however there is a distinction between categorical imperatives and hypothetical imperatives. Hypothetical imperatives are obligatory so long as we desire X. If we desire X we ought to do Y. However, categorical imperatives are not subject to conditions. The Categorical Imperative is universally binding to all rational creatures because they are rational. Kant proposes three formulations the Categorical Imperative in his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Moral, the Universal Law formulation, Humanity or End in Itself...
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...of the thing'. Duty-based ethics teaches that some acts are right or wrong because of the sorts of things they are, and people have a duty to act accordingly, regardless of the good or bad consequences that may be produced. Some kinds of action are wrong or right in themselves, regardless of the consequences. Deontologists live in a universe of moral rules, such as: It is wrong to kill innocent people It is wrong to steal It is wrong to tell lies It is right to keep promises Someone who follows Duty-based ethics should do the right thing, even if that produces more harm (or less good) than doing the wrong thing: People have a duty to do the right thing, even if it produces a bad result. So, for example, the philosopher Kant thought that it would be wrong to tell a lie in order to save a friend from a murderer. If we compare Deontologists with Consequentialists we can see that Consequentialists begin by considering what things are good, and identify 'right' actions as the ones that produce the maximum of those good things. Deontologists appear to do it the other way around; they first consider what actions are 'right' and proceed from there. (Actually this is what they do in practice, but it isn't really the starting point of deontological thinking.) So a person is doing something good if they are doing a morally right action. Top Good and bad points Good points of duty-based ethics emphasises the value of every human being Duty-based ethical...
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...Immanuel Kant was born April 22, 1724 in Königsberg, East Prussia, and its dominant language was German. Kant was born into an artisan family with modest means. His father was a harness maker, and his mother was the daughter of a harness maker. Kant's family was never destitute, but his father's trade was in decline during Kant's youth and his parents at times had to rely on extended family for financial support. In his youth, Kant was a solid, albeit unspectacular, student. He was brought up in a Pietistic household that emphasized intense religious devotion, personal humility, and interpretation of the Bible. Kant received a stern education that preferred Latin and religious instruction over mathematics and science. Kant attended college at the University of Königsberg, where his early interest in classics was quickly overtaken by philosophy, which all first year students studied and which encompassed mathematics and physics as well as logic, metaphysics, ethics, and natural law. Kant's philosophy professors exposed him to the approach of Christian Wolff. But Kant was also exposed to a range of German and British critics of Wolff, and there were threads of Aristotelian and Pietism represented in the philosophy faculty as well. Kant's favorite teacher was Martin Knutzen, a Pietistic follower who was influenced by Christian Wolff and the British philosopher John Locke. Kant released his first work, Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces in 1747, which was...
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...Kantian Ethics Give an account of Kant’s ethical theory [25] Immanuel Kant was a philosopher who was born in the 16th century. The essence of his ethics is that all human beings are striving for goodness and that the use of power of reason solves any moral dilemma. This is known as the ‘summon bonum’. He developed his own ethical theory based around the idea of moral law. He was looking for some sort of objective basis for morality as a hole, a clear and scientific way. Kant believed that we could use reason to work out a consistent, non-overridable set of moral principles. Immanuel’s ethical theory is deontological, so it is based on the idea that an act’s claim to being right or wrong is independent of the consequences of that action. His theory uses practical reason to look at the argument before deciding what to do about the situation. His ethical statements are described as a priori synthetic, this means that a statement is knowable before sense experience, but requires sense experience for final verification but it may be true or false. His theory basically explains that all humans must do their duty, without the need for experience. Kant believed in right or wrong based on reason, he relies on intuitions or facts. For Kant, practical reason looks at the evidence and the argument, he says it cannot depend on external factors. For his own ethical theory, only good will counts. Good will is at the very centre of ethics, the person is a free moral agent and not one...
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...Ethical Theories Everyday people are faced with decisions that are made using ethical and moral values. There are various ethical theories that philosophers have proposed throughout the last two millennia and I will discuss one theory that I feel is closest to how I make my decisions of right and wrong. Some people use the words of the Bible to make those decisions while some use rationing and reasoning. Whichever ethical theory one uses, they are still making ethical decisions to determine right from wrong. The Kantianism Theory is based on the theories of German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804). Many of the moral laws that Kant speaks of can be found within the Bible but also allows the laws to be derived through the process of reasoning. Meaning that one that follows the Kantianism Theory can explain why an action is right or wrong instead of simply stating it is wrong because it is written within a chapter and verse. Kant believed that moral universal laws should guide people’s actions. For instance, if a friend is wearing an outfit that you believe is not appropriate and they ask your opinion of such outfit, you should tell them the truth because telling the truth is the right thing to do, regardless if the outcome is not what the friend wants to hear. He also believed that people should treat one another as an end and never as a means to an end. For instance, if I go to an interview with the intention of being employed by that company for a short period...
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...------------------------------------------------- Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (German pronunciation: [ɪˈmaːnu̯eːl ˈkant]; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher from Königsberg in Prussia(today Kaliningrad, Russia) who researched, lectured and wrote on philosophy and anthropology during the Enlightenment at the end of the 18th century.[1] Kant's major work, the Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft, 1781),[2] aimed to unite reason with experience to move beyond what he took to be failures of traditional philosophy and metaphysics. He hoped to end an age of speculation where objects outside experience were used to support what he saw as futile theories, while opposing the skepticism of thinkers such as Berkeley and Hume. He stated: "It always remains a scandal of philosophy and universal human reason that the existence of things outside us ... should have to be assumed merely on faith, and that if it occurs to anyone to doubt it, we should be unable to answer him with a satisfactory proof."[3] Kant proposed a "Copernican Revolution-in-reverse", saying that: "Up to now it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to the objects; but ... let us once try whether we do not get farther with the problems of metaphysics by assuming that the objects must conform to our cognition."[4] Kant published other important works on ethics, religion, law, aesthetics, astronomy, and history. These included the Critique of Practical Reason(Kritik...
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...In comparing the views of David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel, and Arthur Schopenhauer, which view of experience seems closest to how you view the world? Briefly explain this philosopher's view as it compares to your view. Note: 150-300 words are a substantive post. My view of the world would have to be more like the view of Immanuel Kant. I am a very religious person, and Immanuel Kant believed that all possible knowledge of God was not possible for a human being. He believed the world depended on a supreme being, and that things of the world depended on one another. Immanuel Kant's philosophy was based on the belief of God’s existence. Kant believed the human mind could not obtain rational knowledge of any kind beyond the physical world (Moore, 2005). My philosophy has always been the belief in God. I believe he is the higher power and the creator of everything seen and unseen. My philosophy is related to Kant’s philosophy. We both believe that the mind cannot grasp God’s existence. I know if I try to think of where God came from, I can’t explain the feeling. The feeling is so amazing I cannot grasp an answer and I believe that is what Kant meant. I recently learned about laminin which is a glycoprotein found in basement membranes that are basically the glue that keep us together. The image of laminin is astounding, the molecules come together to form a cross. My belief is heightened even more with this new found proof which Kant, Descartes and Hegel share my belief...
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...Philosophy Idealism The study of philosophy idealism is an interesting subject that contains views from different philosophers. It begins with the thought that discusses the theory of mind over matter versus matter over mind. This train of thought also includes the theory of perception versus reality. Idealism came into existence through the study of metaphysics. Metaphysics is the study of existence within the mind. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were the most noted times of discussion about idealism (Moore & Bruder, 2011). Idealism argues against other philosophical theories including materialism, realism, rationalism, and skepticism. Idealism’s most common argument is versus the theory of materialism (Lennon, 2008). The argument between idealism and materialism focuses on the two thoughts of mind over matter or matter over mind. There were many philosophers during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who presented their views regarding Idealism. David Hume, George Berkeley. Immanuel Kant and Georg Hegel were very influential philosophers during that time frame. The differences between the ideas of perception and reality were discussed frequently by these philosophers (Walker, 2010). The work of previous philosophers influenced future philosophers. The ideas of each philosopher helped in the advancement of the knowledge to attain what we know today about various topics of interest in the different fields derived from the basis of philosophy. Math...
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...this faction, as there are available to the ‘common white man.’ Perpetuated thoughts against this argument have branched from days as early as Aristotle and other celebrated philosophers. Times are progressing toward more equality in this area, however; in order to present these basic human rights to women, a specific law had to be put in affect. The passing of this edict also came along with many misinterpretations, which still inhabit stubborn minds today. Apart from this ordinance, many women partook an enormous influence on proving woman can actually compete and challenge men on the playing field, court, etc. From the beginning of time, women have existed right alongside with men. Many questions were conjured up as to why the physical existence is so distinct from each body. Many different philosophers constructed their own unique views on this matter. Aristotle believed that women are absolute subsidiary to men, thus establishing, anything women can do, men can do better, faster and stronger. Another world-renowned man, Rousseau, believed that men women existed with different capabilities, and women were here only to please men and carry out domestic and maternal duties. Also, as Aristotle claimed, Rousseau too contested that men stand above women. Similar to Rousseau, a philosopher by the name of Kant attested, women are to be wed, and therefore the servant of...
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...------------------------------------------------- Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (German pronunciation: [ɪˈmaːnu̯eːl ˈkant]; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher from Königsberg in Prussia(today Kaliningrad, Russia) who researched, lectured and wrote on philosophy and anthropology during the Enlightenment at the end of the 18th century.[1] Kant's major work, the Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft, 1781),[2] aimed to unite reason with experience to move beyond what he took to be failures of traditional philosophy and metaphysics. He hoped to end an age of speculation where objects outside experience were used to support what he saw as futile theories, while opposing the skepticism of thinkers such as Berkeley and Hume. He stated: "It always remains a scandal of philosophy and universal human reason that the existence of things outside us ... should have to be assumed merely on faith, and that if it occurs to anyone to doubt it, we should be unable to answer him with a satisfactory proof."[3] Kant proposed a "Copernican Revolution-in-reverse", saying that: "Up to now it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to the objects; but ... let us once try whether we do not get farther with the problems of metaphysics by assuming that the objects must conform to our cognition."[4] Kant published other important works on ethics, religion, law, aesthetics, astronomy, and history. These included the Critique of Practical Reason(Kritik...
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