...Moral absolutism Moral Relativism Moral relativism is the insight that there are no obvious ethical truths and that moral facts are only relative to a given individual. According to this theory what is morally good for one person or culture might be morally bad for another, and vice versa: there are no moral absolutes. Moral relativism holds that ethical truths are of this latter kind. According to moral relativism, ethical truths are subjective rather than objective. This means that whether lying is wrong, for example, can vary from person to person or from culture to culture. It may be that for some people, or in some cultures, it is wrong, but that for other people, or in other cultures it isn‘t. In one mild form, moral relativism can seem obvious. Of course different people have different moral obligations: I have a duty to pay my credit card bill; you do not. Each of us is in different circumstances, and those circumstances affect what we ought and ought not to do. Morality is therefore relative to circumstances. Moral truths are relative to people or groups of people. Moral relativism holds that two different people in identical circumstances can, for no other reason than that they are different people, have different obligations. This is a much stronger claim than that morality is relative to circumstances. Moral absolutism Moral absolutism is the ethical theory which believes that there are always absolute rules of which moral questions can be judged against. It means...
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... such as the contrast in origins of government, limitations of government, dwellings of sovereignty, and the rights of revolution. The social contract theory was developed by multiple influential thinkers of political philosophy. One of those men was Thomas Hobbes, who lived during the English Civil War. During this war, he witnessed the collapse of absolute government and therefore influenced his theory that having absolute government is the only way. Even though most readers of his works recognize the significance of the law of nature, only a small number of these readers comprehend the purpose the law of nature plays in his political theory (Zagorin). At the core, Hobbes was an 2 advocate of the form of absolutism referred to as political...
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...Abortion Abortions are one of the many things that everyone has an opinion on. an abortion is, “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus as a spontaneous expulsion of a human fetus during the first 12 weeks of gestation--miscarriage, the induced expulsion of a human fetus, or the expulsion of a fetus by a domestic animal often due to infection at any time before completion of pregnancy.” Abortions have always been and will probably always be a controversial topic in which everyone will not agree upon. Some people believe it is a woman's prerogative to choose whether or not to have a child, while still many others believe it is "morally" wrong. On the other hand, there are moderates who disagree with the idea or the morality of abortion, but agree that there are certain circumstances that should give the woman the option. Morality should be a standard at all times and abortion should be no exception. The decision to have an abortion should not be a woman’s choice. Every human has the fundamental right to life. As human life, the fetus has a right to life, and so no one should deny them the opportunity to grow and develop. For those pro-abortion, if the issue lies in the uncertainty of when the fetus can be considered human life, then they should not abort since “if you aren’t sure when shooting in a bush if the target is your fellow hunter or a deer, don’t shoot.” Finally, it is to be said that...
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...metaphysics and is the foundation around which he constructs his notion of transcendental idealism laid out in his Critique of Pure Reason. Written in response to the previous ‘realist’ conceptions of space Kant challenged strongly the view of its ultimate reality and served to shift the scope of the ontological argument from one of ‘absolutism’ versus ‘relationalism’ to a more developed debate of ‘realism’ against ‘idealism’ as he brought the relationship between space and time, and the mind strongly to the fore. In this essay I am going to contrast this Kantian notion of space as being ‘transcendentally ideal’ against the branded ‘transcendental realism’ of Newton and Clarke. Starting with the latter I’ll go on to bring in the former then proceed to analyse the developments Kant forges past his predecessors. I will then conclude by assessing how and why his view holds more metaphysical depth than that put forward in the Newtonian model by looking at how he accounts for the scope and perspective of human consciousness and the epistemological limits inherent within it. To begin however I will now go to the absolutist models put forward by Newton and Clarke. Prior to Kant, the arguments with regards to spaces ontology were primarily orientated around whether space was absolute (i.e. real in its own nature and independent of objects) or relational (merely relations of objects and nothing more). While both of these were seen as transcendentally real perspectives by Kant the particular model...
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...com/shop/phil-447n-final-exam-mcqs/ Question 1.1. (TCO 1) "Thinking about thinking" is the definition of what? (Points : 4) Development of arguments Measure of good sense Development of critical skills Writing for clarity Critical thinking Question 2.2. (TCO 1, 2, 4) In Chapter 1, we learned the definition of the term issue. The principle concern when handling an issue is whether or not (Points : 4) a given claim is true or not. a claim attaches to the conclusion or not. the majority has a position on the debate. key experts have a position on the debate. Question 3.3. (TCOs 1, 2, 3) In Chapter 1, we learned the definition of the term argument. The purpose of an argument is to (Points : 4) explain complex ideas. win adherents to a position. refute the positions of other people. support or prove conclusions. Question 4.4. (TCOs 2, 3) In Chapter 2, we learned the meaning of inductive arguments. The support that the premises provide for the conclusion of an inductive argument is best described in terms of (Points : 4) valid or invalid. sound or unsound. provable or unprovable. strong or weak. Question 5.5. (TCO 1, 2) In Chapter 2, we learned the meaning of the three modes of persuasion, as defined by Aristotle. Logos refers to arguments based on (Points : 4) ethics and moral character. experiment and observations. ...
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...that the building was not safe, the accident would not have happened. (Fortune, 2013) Furthermore, this businesses immorality not only affected those employees that died but the lives of their families, as well as all those whom witnessed the event. One will never know the extent of damage caused by immoral acts such as this one; the repercussions are too far reaching. In a business environment, a business should be more conscious of acting morally correct than any individual, because the number of live affected are incalculable. Deontological Ethics Deontological ethics is the position that judges the morality of an action based on the action’s adherence to the rules. (Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 2014) This means that morality is what the law says it is; the law says that killing someone is not wrong as long as the individual is defending...
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... 2. What are Plato’s main objections to democracy? 3. Discuss Plato’s idea that the most talented and educated should rule the state. What are his arguments? Do you have any objections to this? If so, which? 4. How does Plato argue around questions of family and private property? 5. What does Aristotle mean by Zoon Politicon? How does it affect his political ideas? 6. In what main ways does Aristotle’s view of democracy differ from Plato’s? 7. How does Aristotle justify slavery? 1. Mill is one of the main figures of the liberal tradition. Why? Characterize the main ideas of this ideology and discuss how they are represented in Mill’s philosophy. 2. Define and discuss the dangers of democracy according to Mill. What are his solutions? 3. Describe utilitarianism. In what ways can Mill be understood as an utilitarian and in which ways not? 4. Describe Marx’ historical materialism, including what role history plays in his philosophy. What relation does ‘revolution’ have to historical laws and human activity, respectively? 5. Describe Marx’ theory of alienation. Discuss its political implications. 6. What are the main arguments of Michael Hardt’s text? Discuss them in relation to Marx. 7. Compare and discuss the different understandings of ”freedom” in liberal and socialist ideology. 1. Characterize the main ideas of neoliberalism. 2. What are Nozick’s arguments against distributive justice and what does he...
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...Page 1 of 7 What is Social Contract Theory? The concept of social contract theory is that in the beginning man lived in the state of nature. They had no government and there was no law to regulate them. There were hardships and oppression on the sections of the society. To overcome from these hardships they entered into two agreements which are:1. “Pactum Unionis”; and 2. “Pactum Subjectionis”. By the first pact of unionis, people sought protection of their lives and property. As, a result of it a society was formed where people undertook to respect each other and live in peace and harmony. By the second pact of subjectionis, people united together and pledged to obey an authority and surrendered the whole or part of their freedom and rights to an authority. The authority guaranteed everyone protection of life, property and to a certain extent liberty. Thus, they must agree to establish society by collectively and reciprocally renouncing the rights they had against one another in the State of Nature and they must imbue some one person or assembly of persons with the authority and power to enforce the initial contract. In other words, to ensure their escape from the State of Nature, they must both agree to live together under common laws, and create an enforcement mechanism for the social contract and the laws that constitute it. Thus, the authority or the government or the sovereign or the state came into being because of the two agreements. Analysis...
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...the first situation I describe the application of two ethical principles in relation to access to healthcare at a hospital. The next situation deals with the moral issues raised by mandating the use of ultrasound technology. Here I explain which ethical principles are used to justify this practice, and which ones are violated by this practice. In the last situation, I describe an ethical dilemma I was personally faced with and the ethical principles I used to resolve it. 1. Access to HealthCare The Principle of Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is the moral theory that says the rightness of an action is determined by its contribution to the greatest good for the greatest number. This theory argues against specific actions that would benefit an individual in favor of actions that serve to benefit society overall. Using this theory as a principle for making healthcare decisions, the objective becomes to maximize the health of the population served, which is in conflict with the widely held objective to maximize the care to every individual patient. For example, when having to choose between offering a program that benefits one thousand patients every year verses a program that benefits only five patients a year, the program that benefits the thousand patients will be chosen, even if the costs are higher. Organizational Consequences of Utilitarianism The principle of Utilitarianism is important to adopt because...
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...An event in American history that I would like to witness is Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty, or give me death!” speech. The Speech took place on March 23, 1775 at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. Henry gave the speech to the Second Virginia Convention, among the people that were there were Peyton Randolph, Sampson Mathews, and future U.S. Presidents, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. After Henry gave the speech of a lifetime. He, along with his militia troops, made the British Government give back the gunpowder that was the rightful property of the Commonwealth of Virginia Citizens. The gunpowder was ordered to be taken from Williamsburg, Virginia and put on a Royal Navy ship by Lord Dunmore. The actions that the people of the...
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...arriving at the conclusion that Mackies conceptual and ontological claims hold and moral error theory stands. Mackie endorses a second order moral theory regarding the essence of moral valuing and the character of moral values. Mackie believes that many of the moral judgements we make contain a catergorical imperative element and his thesis that “ there are no objective values” (1977, pg 58) is an explicit rebuttal denying that “ any such categorically imperative element is objectively valid” (1977, pg 69).[1] The objective values that Mackie wishes to refute would be action-guiding unconditionally, not contingently upon any particular agents desired ends[2]. With the view of making explicit precisely what I am defending here is what I take to be the error theorists argument in its rawest form: When many of us speak of moral values we are implicitly invoking a kind of objective prescriptively, guided by categorical reasons, based on objective values. There are no objective values of this kind. Therefore our moral discourse is...
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...Morality is the basis of ethics, the latter is the explicit reflection on, and the systematic study of the former (Joseph Omoregbe 1993 p.3)2. How then do we decide what is morally right? Is it based on universal laws or divine instructions? Are laws truly universal? If they are not, how then can the rightness or wrongness of culturally divergent societies be determined? Philosophers agree and disagree in varied proportions on answers to these questions. It is normal if you disagree too. For the purpose of this paper, an attempt will be made to look into the concept of ethical relativism, its importance and areas of deviation from ethical absolutism. History of Ethical Relativism Though moral relativism did not become a prominent topic in philosophy or elsewhere until the twentieth century, it has ancient origins. In the classical Greek world, both the historian Herodotus and the sophist Protagoras appeared to endorse some form of relativism. The early Sophist Greek philosopher Protagoras provides an early philosophical precursor to modern Moral Relativism in his assertion that "man is the measure of all things". The Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484 - 420 B.C.) observed that each society typically regards its own belief system and way of doing things as better than all others. Plato also pointed out that much of what is believed to be...
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...What, if any, do you consider to be acceptable justifications of state violence? Violence is seen and argued on a global matter, the idea of acceptable justifications for state violence is a continually debateable topic. State violence is morally never acceptable because we are prohibited to harm or kill the innocent. Although there are conditions under which most people, even those who think state violence is not acceptable, may agree that state violence is the only alternative if there is a catastrophic threat, imminent danger, no other alternative and against a greater evil to a community. These are the 4 conditions of supreme emergency that can be used to justify the Hiroshima bombings if it was an act of supreme emergency or just an act of terrorism. A State is the organization which has the monopoly of the use of violence. There are two major forms of this. One is against other states, which we call war. The other is the organized violence against its citizens practiced by almost all States. There is the symbolic kind, the fascist architecture, thought control through propaganda, giant parades and nationalist music. There is also the development of penal and legal institutions which often divides up the population into the free and the imprisoned (Macfarlane 2007). The Hiroshima bombings would come under violence as war, where the U.S. bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan with the acute effects killing 90,000–166,000 people (Rezelman...
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...J. McCloskey gets most of his strong statements against the belief by asking the atheist to provide sufficient proof that God exists. However, McCloskey is not the only person who is unsure and asks questions God’s existence based on personal beliefs or influence. From the beginning many people have had questions about God and his existence. He wrote numerous books on atheism between 1960 and 1980 including the famous book, God and Evil. This paper evaluates the credibility of McCloskey’s article “On being an Atheist”. One of the McCloskey’s core arguments against theism is his demand for any proof that ascertains theists’ beliefs on God’s existence. He believed that atheism is more comforting than theism because most Christians do not believe in God because of proof but because of certain reasons and factors, he is looking for more solid evidence in God’s existence. However, there are several reasons why a person should believe in the existence of God. Firstly, theists believe that God is the creator of all things and of nature. Therefore, God is the creator of all things in existence and that affect both the atheists and theists are affected by this. The Bible also states, that Koran and other religious literatures all communicate the existence of a high power with some similar characteristics. These writings have been in existence for several years without any alteration of which both theists and atheists draw their arguments. Therefore, to some point, atheists have to believe...
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...there is no universal ethical standard to identify what is right or wrong; instead, it is up to each society to develop a moral standard that is most compatible with their distinctive culture. Ethical Relativism argues that people should act within the moral standards set forth by their specific culture. It is also important to note that a society can evolve (as well as regress) over time, making way for a revised set of moral standards that are more compatible with sociological views at that time. I found it hard to identify many of my peers as having either a relativist, or absolutist position within the discussions. Many seem to have a conglomerate of the ‘best’ ideals from both sides of the spectrum. There are however, some great examples of both absolutist and relativist minds in the class discussions, being able to look at exactly how they both apply their reasoning to arrive at radically different stances on some fundamental questions about ethics and moral standards. Before I get into defining some examples of both relativist and absolutist ideologies, I want to start with a post from week two that is an excellent example of relativism in action and that shows how radically two different society’s moral standards can differ. In the post, “WHAT DOES ‘GOOD’ MEAN,” Daniel Brundage shared an interesting story regarding his cousin’s experience with an aboriginal African tribe, and more specifically, the tribe’s conception of what was correct morality in their society. His post...
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