...are what provides the passion in a person's life, and gives them hope and a reason for being. A person might go to any lengths to protect what they feel is right and to preserve these values. Values can be divided up into two subcategories absolute and relative. Absolute values deal with conventional ethics. In absolutism, everything is certain. Relativism, on the other hand, is more subjective. Relativism and absolutism are only two of the many ethical viewpoints studied by ethicists today. Pope Benedict XVI brought up many issues revolving around these two viewpoints during his time as Pope. He never strictly used the term "relativism" but he did "fault modern people for missing the transcendent meaning of love and instead caring for one another just because we feel like it". The ideas behind relativism may be misleading or confusing to some, but are essential to any worldview, including the pope's. Pope Benedict worries that a person's individual autonomy has been lifted and valued above moral absolutes. Most people understand that lying is wrong and considered unethical, but we also take a stand that lying in order to prevent harm or evil can be justified. Just because lying is accepted in that situation does not make it ok to lie, in the same way that self defense does not make it ok to do harm unto others in any other situation than when a person feels their life is being threatened. These are relativist views because there is no absolute. There...
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...In Jodi Picoult's author's note “Stop Thinking of Beliefs as Absolutes” the idea of the death penalty along with religious beliefs are considered through her book “Change of Heart.” Yet, throughout the whole author's note each point is explored throughly, even going into the history of religion through the example of the Gnostic Gospels. While reading the author's note ideas such as vengeance, dying wishes, the death penalty, the eight amendment, and religious absolutes. If given the choice between vengeance and saving a loved one, I would choose the saving the loved one. According to the New Oxford American Dictionary vengeance, by definition, is the “punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong.” For that...
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...Virtues, ethics, and morals are what define people as good or bad, their actions as right or wrong. American society holds one’s virtues in high regard and often evaluates one based on virtue and moral conduct. Virtue by definition is, “the quality or practice of moral excellence or righteousness” (Collins English Dictionary, 2010). Thomas Mallory offered the most ethical character in fiction, Lancelot. It is his virtue that “Is an essential aspect of his success in arms” (McCarthy, 1988, p. 22). Virtue ethics and ethical relativism, studied by learned philosophers, help define the basis of right and wrong. Major Elements According to Aristotle, morality is a specific attribute of a person with regard to his or her own inner harmony. Aristotle explained moral attributes in the terms of one’s lucid ability of the inner self to manage its appetite for portion. He asserted that moral attributes are erudite and should be practiced to become habit (Athanassoulis, 2010, para 2). According to the textbook, “virtue is a state of character, that of being a good person” (Freeman, 2000, p. 88). Moral theories concern right and wrong behaviors; but virtue ethics change the kind of questions asked about ethics. Major elements in the theory of virtue ethics are the subjective behavior, qualities and habits that can lead the individual to make choices. This theory helps the individual to ask about right and wrong and how genuine fulfillment may be reached (Freeman, 2000, p. 88). Ethical...
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...The question of whether ethical relativism or ethical absolutism is right has been the subject of much debate, and perhaps may never be answered for certain. It is certain, however, that at the present time, ethical relativism is in general accepted as the standard. Although I realize that given the fact that the best of philosophers have failed to give solid arguments for either ethical relativism or ethical absolutism will most likely be unable as well, however that is not my goal. Rather my purpose is simply to make us question the ethical relativism to which we have become so accustomed, and to demonstrate some reasons why ethical absolutism may be correct. We all know that people, in general, treat ethics as being subjective. Does that, however, make that right, just, and ethical? To put it simply, the answer is: no. This is obvious given the common example, "if all the other kids were jumping off a cliff, would you do it too." The masses are not always right. So now the thought in all your minds is "come on - go ahead! Prove us wrong." I'm not trying to prove anything, however I will hopefully give you enough information to make you question what is right, and if I do, then I've accomplished my goals. Lets begin with the basics. "What are absolute ethics?" Ethical Absolutism, is undeviating moral discipline. Nothing is relative; a crime is a crime, regardless of circumstances. For a quick demonstration of ethical relativism let us use the example of murder. Is it ok...
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...factors that affects a person decision's making and how they view their ideals. Thus, power has long been debated whether it corrupts people or emphasizes pre-existing personality traits and moral values. Power can be categorized into socialized and personalized power, with one leading to the other which is called mutualized power. (Source E) However, the lure of personalized power usually dominates an individual's mind even if they initially sought to emphasize socialized power since power can overwhelm a person's mind with thoughts of greed and selfishness. The same principle applies to how power affects a person's moral identity, it overwhelms the person's mind with these...
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...Terms: Pluralism- existence of different groups within society: the existence of groups with different ethnic, religious, or political backgrounds within one society SOCIOLOGY social policy and theory: the policy or theory that minority groups within a society should maintain cultural differences, but share overall political and economic power Tyranny- A government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power. arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority. Absolutism – political system: a political system in which the power of a ruler is unchecked and absolute theory of objective values: a philosophical theory in which values such as truth or morality are absolute and not conditional upon human perception something absolute: a standard, principle, or theory that is absolute Utilitarianism: ethical doctrine of greatest good: the ethical doctrine that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the criterion of the virtue of action doctrine based on value of usefulness: the doctrine that the value of an action or an object lies in usefulness utilitarian quality: the quality of being designed primarily for practical use rather than beauty Libertarianism: advocate of individual responsibility: somebody who believes in the doctrine of free will advocate of individual freedom: somebody who believes in the principle that people should have complete freedom of thought and action Categorical Imperative: Kantian...
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...situations and options. What is “right” and ”wrong” in any situation is variable. “Right” is a matter of the person’s personal preference, bias, emotion, experience, culture, gender, age, socioeconomic group, and any other factor the individual deems important. In essence, the individual is his/her own higher power. Entitlement-based ethics or egoism is a special type of relativism. Deontology, the study of duty, which we explored in Modules 3 and 5, describes a variety of positions that understand ethics in terms of duty or obedience to universal principles regardless of the consequences. These universal principles could come from God, from human origins and nature, or from human reason. Instead of asking whether an action will result in a particular type of consequence, either good or bad, as is the case with utilitarianism and social contract, deontologists ask whether an action is consistent with a particular principle or rule. In Module 5, we studied the ethical deontological categorical imperative of Immanuel Kant. Kant does not believe the authority for duty-driven activity is God. Kant believes that human will is the highest authority. He believes this “highest authority" emanates from the use of human reason. In short, Perhaps Kant’s “duty” is not as absolute as one might suppose. Human ordained moral action is often subject to change according to personal preference. For Kant, the moral action conforms to a law of human origin and is absolute—it admits no exceptions, and...
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...consistently that the United Nations would not work and does not make sense given the state of nature that man comes from. John Locke explained his theory of the state of nature in his Second Treatise on Government. According to Locke man exists in the state of nature as an individual coexisting peacefully with other human beings. The reason for this peaceful coexistence between people in the state of nature is because of a few simple rules. The first of these is the respect of people’s life, liberty, and property. A person’s life and liberty are forms of his property. If a person was to in some way take away another person’s property then that person has made an attempt on your life, which consequently placed the two of you in a state of war. The reasoning for this is that if you do not respect the person and are willing to make an attempt on his property then you don’t respect his other properties such as life and liberty. You have the right to your own self preservation and to defend yourself from whomever is willing to initiate...
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...“Power tends to corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” Essay “Power tends to corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Over time this statement has been changed and interpreted into its own meaning. Some say power does not corrupt it only attracts the corruptible, however, past events have given proof to dispute that theory. Power corrupts absolutely. This can be seen as we look back at previous leaders, for example: Louis XIV of France, Henry the Second of the Roman Empire, Katherine the Great, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Adolf Hitler. These names all have something in common, they were leaders, but unfortunately, power got to their heads and they were corrupted by their lifestyles and position of power. Some of the most brutal and powerful acts have happened when these names have been reigning over us. Given this, the point I am addressing in my essay is ‘how leaders corrupt absolutely and why’. Leadership is at its core, all about power and influence; however, there is a distinction between two types of power, socialized and personalized power. Socialized power is used to benefit others, and personalized power is used for personal gain. Most power that evolves starts out as wanting to help others but once the realization sets in that they can help themselves more, power starts to be used for personal gain. Examples of this have happened in history as dictators started out with good intentions but got corrupted absolutely because they became consumed...
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...why would a good and just God allow so much evil and suffering in our world. If God loves us so much, why would he let bad things happen to good people? 3. Briefly summarize the Christian worldview’s response to the problem of evil and suffering. Cite and reference the lecture and/or Chapter 9 in the textbook. The Christian worldview’s response to the problem of evil and suffering is best explained through the example of Job. Like Job, suffering will come to a person regardless of their social or righteous status, but God cares about every single person’s suffering. Second, it is okay to ask God questions, but it is not okay for us to blame God for the evil or suffering we are going through, nor question his love. It should be sufficient for us to know that our God knows us, listens to us, loves us, and is with us. Lastly, the Christian worldview explains that although we are suffering and in pain right now, eventually everything will come together and we will be with God, free from any kind of suffering (Sharpe, 2014). 4. Imagine that a close friend has just suffered through a great personal loss (death of a loved one, natural disaster, disease, job loss, divorce, or a broken relationship) and your friend asks you why God would let such a terrible thing happen. How would you respond to your friend? Our God is a good God. He does care about his children, his creation. He will allow things to happen for a specific reason. It may be that God is trying...
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...Identify the stakeholders in the case and the impact of the operations/ethical issues on the stakeholders. Business ethics, issues, and conflicts revolve around relationships. Customers, investors and shareholders, employees, suppliers, government agencies, communities, and many others who have a stake, or claim, in some aspect of a company’s product, operations, markets, industry, and outcomes are known as stakeholders. They are both influenced by and have the ability to affect businesses. Stakeholders provide both, tangible and intangible recourses that are more or less critical to a firm’s long term success. The key stakeholders in this scenario are a) The customers who are mainly US male teenagers between 13 -19 years of age that would be exposed to nudity through a video game that with increased levels of intensity revealing nudity of a female game character. b) The Broadway Corporation is a stakeholder that is affected if the “Lucky” game development and introduction would be stalled or entirely taken off the market. Since “Broadway” is a corporation, the outcome of this scenario will affect the company as a whole. The consequences could be that the company would lay off employees due to the lack of revenue. The shareholders would start selling their shares if dissatisfied which would eventually cause the company’s stock price to fall. Suppliers that build the arcade equipment would be affected as well as the entire surrounding infrastructure since Broadway is one...
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...William Hopper Mrs. Tsirgiotis Honors English IV 24 August 2015 What is Freedom? Freedom is the ability to think or perform without any restrictions other than the restrictions that are given at birth, but for some, those restrictions are not there. Although absolute freedom is the absence of jurisdiction, a restricted freedom is what people in most countries experience since birth, and since freedom is restricted to an extent, it allows for people to live securely in the hands of a country such as America. Restricted freedoms allow for others to safely secure an identity for themselves, and creates individuality. Even without the use of laws, morals still effect the decision making of others. With all of these definitions of freedom combined, it shapes into what we call freedom every day. Since birth, humans are raised on a multitude of morals that dictate their entire life, and these morals are what humans base their entire decision making on. Though most humans have the right to think whatever thoughts they choose, actions are typically restricted to a certain degree. It is morals that allow humans to live in a society that is typically free from fear and hatred, but other humans can have a different set of morals that tend to spread hatred in a society. Morals are what prevent most people from committing murder of thievery every day, although some choose to disregard morals and impose ill-will on others, which is way to be free from morals, but what prevents people...
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...metaphysical claim about the non-existence of God' Negative atheism: Absence of God: does not actively deny God. An example of this would by a baby who has not had time to make a conscious decision about the existence of God. We cannot assume anything, so we must assume he does not exist. Agnosticism: From the Latin 'without knowledge.' Like Negative atheism there is an absence of belief, however, unlike Negative atheism it does not deny the existence. Postmodernism One of the key ideas of a postmodernist view of religion, unlike traditional views, is that there is no objective knowledge or absolute representation of reality. It is culture or society that dictates our concepts and the way we categorise and see the world. Hence religion is seen as a cultural construct. Religious claims have no claim to absolute truth. They are merely relative and subjective. This reliance on a person’s perspective therefore means that there is no grand or meta‐ narrative. Truth can no longer be discovered through reason and experience. In contrast, amodernist grand narrative would be the idea of an...
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...state more secure, he used Cardinal Richelieu, a French clergyman and political leader to keep Louis’ monarchy absolute, and breaking the political power of the Huguenots, French Protestants. The commoners wouldn’t contribute in council or the spread of the religion, but paid heavy taxes, in order to fund for the monarch’s army and labor, aided in Louis XIV reign. Louis wanted to be seen as a extremely powerful monarch, this lead to lots of wars in order to show the prominence of France. Again, in regards to the relationship between commoners and state...
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...‘Kantian theory’ Kantian theory founder is Emmanuel Kant who came up with the ‘Kantian theory’ which is also known as The Kant’s theory according to this theory, what a person should do and what a person wants to do are often not compatible. Doing what a person wants to do would usually bring immediate happiness or gratification, but might not benefit the person in the long run. On the other hand, doing what one must do may cause immediate discomfort or unhappiness, even if it is good for the person. This is the underlying message of Kantianism which is the purpose of morality is not to make you happy and the whole purpose of morality is to do the right thing just for the sake of doing it without any rewards. Kant also used the terms "will" and "motivation" interchangeably. Will means that we have the ability to choose good, based on reason. I like Kant's theory because Kant believes that if an action had moral intentions, it is therefore morally relevant no matter what the consequences are. This theory states that consequences of an action do not matter and have no moral relevance, thus only intentions are morally relevant (Class Notes)..The will, led by reason, forms two imperatives. Imperatives are basically the "should" in your life. Hypothetical imperatives are dependent upon the context of the situation. They are relative and contingent. Hypothetical imperatives are formed to bring about a certain result or consequence, and have nothing to do with morality. "Since we are...
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