...1. Explain, as clearly and completely as possible, Kant’s answer to “What is the right thing to do?” Are there any problems with this answer? According to Immanuel Kant, doing right and moral things are the right thing to do, which means we have the choices to choose what to do or what to respect the moral law which is expressing our goals. Also, we have to do something for the cause of the principle by doing the right things. By doing the right things and following the moral principle is what Kent called good will. Although one cannot achieve what he or she wants, he or she is still doing the right thing because he or she is intended of doing the right things. As you can see, doing something morally good, notwithstanding of its results are the right thing to do because it is his or her jobs. However, doing right and moral things may cause the problem of inclination. It is because people might think doing the good will is our jobs, we must do it. They will never think that they are more proposed to do the good-will because it rewards that it has involved in the thing. If it is like this, it cannot account for the good-will because there are not many people think that they must do it because it is their job instead of thinking how much intention that they want to do for goodwill. Thus, the problem may result of inclination....
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...Trevor Long Josh Tucker ENGL 1020 25 November 2014 No Harmful Intentions Doing the right thing in life can be harmful, even if it is the right thing to do, many people can be affected by these decisions. By doing the right thing it is always harmful to someone. Harm can be collected in multiple ways not only physically, but neglect and psychological harm can also be intended to be the right thing to do. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” both use their stories to represent how doing the right thing can be harmful by neglect, psychological and physical harm. The two stories are both written about the way people inside a community live and their rituals and routines ruin and affect peoples’ lives by doing what they believe is the right thing to do, but in other peoples eyes it is not the right thing to do. Both stories use many literary devices in their stories to show their true meanings. The literary devices known as character and setting explain important meaning on how the stories are structured and organized to make the organization feel as if they believe it is the right thing to do but is harmful to others. In Shirley Jacksons “The Lottery” shows a great amount of physical and psychological harm. A setting like many towns, there are banks, schools, Town Square, and homes of the villagers. Every year the small town gathers in the square for the lottery day. Groups of children run around gathering pockets and small mounds...
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...thought being ethically was pretty easy. Because all I need to do is to do right thing. At that time, doing the right things means to help others, not tell lies to others, and protect the environment…there’s not an obscure definition of doing the right thing. However, as being a college student who will be graduating and entering the society, I found not that I’m not sure how to do the right things, sometimes I don’t even know what the right thing is. The movie Margin Call is a good example of an ethical dilemma that we may face when we enter the real world. We can see that different characters have different perceptions of what is right to them. The whole movie was based on the true stories in Wall Street back in 2008. Contrast to other financial crisis movies, the movie Margin Call particularly emphasis on the describing the brutal competition and the ruthlessness of people when facing the possible financial crisis. The character that resonates with me the most is Sam Rogers, I think I can feel what he feels because he is definitely the one who is struggling thorough out the story. I think he is just one of us, he is just a normal man. When we facing ethical dilemmas, we are definitely not the ones who stand out and choose to do the right thing immediately. We always have to fight with ourselves. Which choice is better for my own profits? Which choice would be the right? Do I suffer losses by making the right choice? Those questions will come to our minds if we were facing...
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...'duty'. Duty-based ethics are usually what people are talking about when they refer to 'the principle 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...
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...are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” In other words Mill said that an action is right if produces happiness and wrong if that action reverse happiness. He also stated that some pleasures are higher than others, and what produces greater happiness is the right thing to do. But, there exists objections to the utilitarianism as the individual rights are no respected, it is not enough time to make decision morally right or wrong, and how he contradicts his subordinate rules. I will begin my argument with one of the major objections about the utilitarianism, and it is how Mill’s approach seem to leave no room for individual choices. John Stuart Mill stated that what produces happiness to a large group of people is the moral right thing to do. But part of my disagree with Mills approach, is that not always what produces happiness to a large group of...
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...mainly as a viable alternative to utilitarianism. Since utilitarian theory downplays the moral significance of such important elements as respect, human dignity, individual rights, and minority protection, an alternative moral theory might b needed. [Utilitarianism, and consequential theories in general, do not accord an intrinsic and incommensurable value to any element - in other words, nothing - not even human dignity or even human life - is to be valued as morally good or morally valuable in itself and isolated from comparison, or weighing, against other goods. In utilitarianism, in particular, the conversion of all things is to happiness or pleasure or utility or preferences; in this way, everything has a common denominator - and this makes it possible to have a ready-made formular for assessment of what one should do morally [act in such a way as to maximize the overall happiness or happiness of the greatest possible number]; the down-side is that nothing - not even life or rights or human dignity - is to be kept out of the utilitarian calculus. Although utilitarianism is handy when it comes to tough cases and moral dilemmas - it has ample scope and range of cases it can handle in its own way - it is rather counter-intuitive in its insistence that even what we generally hold as the most morally valuable things are just numbers in a calculus. Also, since the greatest number prevails, this theory is not sensitive to the needs of 'permanent' minorities. Kant's theory is on the...
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...in the mind. Reactions are achieved based on knowledge, experience, and emotions. Emotions, experiences and reactions help us identify our beliefs in life to help determine what is right based on our values, morals and ethics. After determining what is right the ability to act upon the belief of righteousness is the hardcore of the matter. Due to barriers, consequences and others reaction, people tend to not always do they believe is right. An individual that faces many difficulties in life has to struggle with trying to do the right thing in the situation. The individual begins to think if they do the right thing would it then be the best thing and not taking into consideration the long term effect. When the individual is being faced with difficulties it then becomes difficult to react on other situations other than the problems they are faced. Sometimes they would not do what they believe is right because they are concerned and want to do anything possible to venture away from their problematic situation. For an example, a child is being abused at home by his father. When this child grows up, he too starts to abuse his child. The man then becomes an abuser, he knows it’s not right to abuse a child and it’s not a good feeling to be abused. Based on the man’s experience he knows the right thing to do is break the cycle, but...
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...in total or partial as a response to the assignment of another professor in all or part. Student ID Number: | | Student Signature: | | Running head: THE SEVEN LEVELS OF CHANGE The Seven Levels of Change 12/3/2010 ORL 5063 Leading Organizational Change Palm Beach Atlantic University Reference Smith, R. (1997). The 7 Levels of Change. Arlington, Texas: The Summit Publishing Group. Smith has spent his career thinking about how people think. The frame of this model is divided in 7 levels from easy to impossible. LEVEL 1 Effectiveness—Doing the right things Level 1 changes are about starting a new habit. Change is about doing the right things and being effective. The right things are pretty much the right things everywhere, but still these are incremental changes that you have to go through. TOOLS: 1. WRITE IT DOWN. Writing down the ideas is doing the right thing. Ideas are everywhere, in magazines, books, newspaper. Wenger on his book said that...
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...being would be able to use his/her reason to come up with the same set of rules. For example, I may, using reason, work out that it is wrong to lie. An absolutist would think that it is therefore always wrong to lie, in any situation and in any culture. So it is just as wrong for me to lie about cheating on my boyfriend as it is to lie about the fact that Santa isn't real. And I can never think it is right to lie, even, to use Kant's famous example, if there was a murder at my door enquiring as to the whereabouts of my friend. If I knew my friend was hiding in my house, I would have to tell this to the murderer. In this situation, Kant would say that if I had lied to the murdered, and then in some strange coincidence my friend had left my house and was met in the street by the murder who then killed him, I would be held morally accountable, since I had lied. Relative morality refers to the opposite theory. Whereas absolute means unchanging and universal, relative means your theory of morality can change. Relative morality means that different cultures can believe different things, and people across different time periods may also believe...
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...being would be able to use his/her reason to come up with the same set of rules. For example, I may, using reason, work out that it is wrong to lie. An absolutist would think that it is therefore always wrong to lie, in any situation and in any culture. So it is just as wrong for me to lie about cheating on my boyfriend as it is to lie about the fact that Santa isn't real. And I can never think it is right to lie, even, to use Kant's famous example, if there was a murder at my door enquiring as to the whereabouts of my friend. If I knew my friend was hiding in my house, I would have to tell this to the murderer. In this situation, Kant would say that if I had lied to the murdered, and then in some strange coincidence my friend had left my house and was met in the street by the murder who then killed him, I would be held morally accountable, since I had lied. Relative morality refers to the opposite theory. Whereas absolute means unchanging and universal, relative means your theory of morality can change. Relative morality means that different cultures can believe different things, and people across different time periods may also believe...
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...How do people determine what is right and what is wrong? Do people do what they believe is right or do people do things wrong intentionally? Many people have ways of determining what’s right or wrong. Determining what’s right or wrong in a situation can be handled different ways by different people. Some people use their beliefs to determine what is right or wrong in a situation. Others follow rules created by their government or social rules that are acceptable within their circle of friends or society. And maybe, some people feel that they have power in this world, and, therefore, have the ability to create their own rules or think that rules don’t apply to them. A great example of determining right vs. wrong would be in the play, “Antigone,”...
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...A famous quote I have heard by J.C. Watts is, “Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.” That is something that my parents taught me as a young child. I have also been told to treat someone the way I would like to be treated, and I try to live by those mottos to this day. My parents told me that I should not follow everyone else’s actions and to be my own person. Sometimes it can be difficult because in the real world not everyone is easy to get along with and there can be so many ways to fall into peer pressure. When I was younger, I was always taught that if I did not do the right thing something bad would happen. I heard the same thing everywhere I went. If I was not going to obey my parents when I was told to do something, I would be sent to my room for a time out. If I did not listen to what my teacher said, I would be sitting in a desk bored out of my mind after school to serve a detention. If I told a sin at church, I would go to Hell and not Heaven. So, my parents brainwashed me into doing the right thing at a young age. That made it really easy for me to get along with almost everybody because everyone loves a goodie goodie when you are little. I am a pretty easy going person because it is important to get along with as many people as possible. I like to live in the moment and have fun. I am almost always happy because creating a positive vibe with the people surrounding me is extremely important. Nobody wants anyone else being rude to them, so...
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...Mike Glenn Professor Lehe: Philosophy 100 Major Paper #1 4-22-11 What is Happiness? Many people wonder how famous, wealthy, and icons of pop culture, who have everything anyone could ever want, are not truly happy people. These people possess power, fame, and money. If those things do not provide happiness, then what does? Also, there are the people like Ghandi and Jesus who had very little or nothing and still were happy. They had inner peace and happiness that led them to become moral figures for the people of our generation. These people who had almost nothing somehow possessed happiness. This brings about questions like, “What is happiness?” and, “What do people need to do in order to be happy?” I believe in order to possess happiness one needs to live a life in accordance with virtue; a life that Aristotle said would lead to happiness. In this essay I will state and talk about some different views of happiness and moral goodness. I will also summarize my true opinion of what happiness is and what way of life I believe one should live. First, Hedonism or the Principle of Utility, a philosophy that Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill live according to, says that pleasure is good and will lead to happiness. They believe that if you avoid pain and maximize pleasure that you will gain happiness. The Greatest Happiness principle states that one should approve or disapprove of an action based on the amount of pain and pleasure brought about for all people affected...
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...Ship Wreck Ethics Life is all about the challenges you face and the choices you make. There are many situations where tough decisions need to be made and you must decide what is right, what is wrong, what is ethically sound, what is moral, or unmoral. But how does a person decide what is the “right” or “ethical” thing to do; especially when considering topics such as abortion, euthanasia, animal rights, or, in this case, the ship wreck. A brief synopsis of the situation; a ship wrecked in a remote area with no chance of help arriving soon. There are a 100 people in the water and 75 people in the only lifeboat available, which is meant to hold 50 people. There are men, women, and children, and a mix of old, young, rich, and poor. The 100 people in the water will drown if you do not put them in the boat and the boat will eventually sink because there are too many people in it. You are voted to be the leader based on your courage, intelligence, and experience with ethics and you must decide what to do, if you don’t, no one else will. How does an individual decide whom gets to stay in the boat, basically, who gets to live or die? To help make a decision on controversial issues, such as this one, there are many theories and standpoints to consider. A few of the theories and strategies that are going to be discussed are: Egoism, The Divine Command Theory, Utilitarianism, Kantian Ethics, and Natural Law. The main thesis of psychological egoism is that people either always act in...
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...DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICAL THEORY: (KANT) Deontological (duty-based) ethics are concerned with what people do, not with the consequences of their actions. • Do the right thing. • Do it because it's the right thing to do. • Don't do wrong things. • Avoid them because they are wrong. 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. 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. • This is a non-consequentialist theory. • The motivation or principle is important. • An action can only be deemed right or wrong when the morals for taking that action are known. There are three key maxims, or tests, for any action: an action is morally 'right' if it satisfies all three. • Consistency: Act only according to that maxim by which you can, at the same time, desire that it should become a universal law. o The action can only be right it everyone can follow the same underlying principle. • Human dignity: Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only. ...
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