...No matter the happiness gained, it is still an immoral act. But, in some cases there are exceptions to moral rules. A strong exception to the moral rule of not stealing, for example, is if one was murderous and had a knife in his or her hand, it would be immoral not to steal the knife from the murderous individual. In that case, the happiness of others would greatly decrease due to being harmed by the murderer. If his weapon is taken, only his happiness would decrease, but everyone else’s relief would increase the overall happiness of the group. Therefore, it is beneficial to steal the weapon, and the case is not immoral. So, because the group happiness goes up in the case of illegal downloads, the case is not immoral, because there is no one negatively...
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...relative even though money has an objective value. Give an example of a situation where relative perception of cost could cause us to spend more than we might otherwise. It can be your own example or from the readings. Briefly describe the situation and bias, and identify how relative perception of cost affects judgments. Also identity a possible strategy to avoid this kind of bias. One example would be the use of the decoy effect as a sales strategy. For example, suppose you are in the mood for a vanilla milkshake and enter a café. Option A is that a Vanilla Milkshake alone would cost you $23HKD. Option B is a set, with a Vanilla Milkshake and a slice of Crème Brule would cost $60HKD. It is less likely you would buy the set, as it is significantly more expensive. However, if Option C was introduced, with the Crème Brule alone at $60HKD, it is likely that your mind would change as you realize that relative to Option C, the price of Option B is a great deal. A possible strategy to avoid this kind of bias is to identify it when you see it happening, and ask yourself if we can afford to spend more, and if spending more is actually necessary to satisfy...
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...Happiness and Positive Emotions The United States Declaration of Independence states: “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. To mention happiness in such an important document that would later go on to be the foundation of an entire country, carries a lot of weight and meaning. Most Americans agree that happiness is an important part of one’s life. Even though different cultures have a different perception of happiness, it is still plays a significant role. Research has been done which states people who are happier achieve better life outcomes, including financial success, supportive relationships, mental health, and even physical health and longevity. Having read the chapter of happiness and positive emotions and a few articles, I will related the readings and research to my own understanding and interpretation of how each plays a role in my life. Research on positive emotions, such as happiness, compassion, love and hope, is relatively new. Most scientists who study emotions focus on negative states such as depression, anxiety, and fear. Psychologists spend most of their time trying to help people control those states, whereas happiness is a positive emotion that does not need any help to overcome. Researchers have trouble defining and measuring happiness, and have concluded that happiness does not fit the definition of an emotion. The authors of Emotion, Shiota and Kalat, state that happiness qualifies more as a mood or affect, and people with a happy personality...
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...Topic: Money can bring happiness, do you agree or disagree? (Within 300 words, at least 250 words; IELTS for GENERAL TRAINING) As the most significant symptom of wealth, possessing a large sum of money has become a unique pursuit of many people, especially young generation, around the world. They are convinced of that happiness can bought by sufficient money. However, they could neglect the fact that happiness is not just determined by one factor but many others such as your friends, relatives, and pleasant experience. In my perspective, happiness does not always increase in direct ratio to the rise of money. Focusing on the illusion that money brings happiness may have an unexpected adverse effect that may lead to a misallocation of time. For instance, when some one reflects on how money would change their sense of well-being, they would probably tempt to think about spending more time in leisurely pursuits such as seeing a three-dimensional movie or traveling abroad. But in reality, they would have to spend a large amount of time working and commuting and less time engaged in experienced happiness. On the other hand, it is undeniable that money has a brief effect on life satisfaction, particularly after we have got enough money to satisfy our fundamental need. For example, people who get richer would feel they are better than their peers. Nevertheless, they will soon make richer friends. Therefore, their relative wealth will not be greater than it was before; people quickly...
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...Zach Peters PHIL 220 April 10, 2015 Essay 2 Neil Levy’s article goes into depth on the controversial philosophy of money and its effect on happiness. Contrary to popular belief, Levy states that national surveys provide data that suggests money has very little effect on overall happiness. In this essay, I am going to analyze Levy’s article and explain why and how he believes money is of little importance in achieving overall well-being. I am also going to attempt to find correlations between income and happiness that Levy thinks may have significance in answering this philosophical question. My hopes are to find an alternative understanding of these correlations that the author may not have taken into consideration during his research. First, it is important for me to identify the possible scenarios that Levy puts on the y-axis. Happiness, being the underlying measurement, is affected by a variety of factors. Levy believes that in poorer countries, comfort and stress are thresholds that control happiness to a certain extent. The extent is to whether or not they have enough money to achieve the basic needs of life. For example, a roof over your head and enough food to survive. If these basic needs are met, money has little to no effect on their happiness. Along with comfort and stress, he discusses adaption and contentment as important factors that are effected by income. People seem to adapt to rises in the economy but fail to adapt when they experience a fall. During falls...
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...haven’t felt that it has been something we have to do right away. I have a four and a half year old daughter from a previous relationship. Since my partner and I have been together, it seems that the more time and time goes on, the more the four of us grow together as a family. There are some things about this article that I completely agree with and some that I will definitely disagree with as well. As twenty-three women who has lived with the same man for almost four years, and have risen a little girl together seems fair enough that I can consider myself basically married. There is no paper that states that, but I believe that our history and current state very well proves that. There are three main topics that this Harvard professor discusses and that is bottom line, being married and happy, money and finances, and marriage and kids. In my personal opinion I believe that I can give my opinion my Daniel Gilbert’s thoughts, because my life can be easily related to an ordinary marriage. In this article, the first point that Daniel Gilbert brings up is, “it’s not marriage that makes you happy, its happy marriage that...
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...Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher and political radical. He is primarily known today for his moral philosophy, especially his principle of utilitarianism, which evaluates actions based upon their consequences. The relevant consequences, in particular, are the overall happiness created for everyone affected by the action. Influenced by many enlightenment thinkers, especially empiricists such as John Locke and David Hume, Bentham developed an ethical theory grounded in a largely empiricist account of human nature. He famously held a hedonistic account of both motivation and value according to which what is fundamentally valuable and what ultimately motivates us is pleasure and pain. Happiness, according to Bentham, is thus a matter of experiencing pleasure and lack of pain. Objective Value: Pain & Pleasure and Moral Naturalism For Bentham, morals can be described naturally and scientifically rather than as any duties imposed by a god, but such a description requires an account of human nature. Just as Bentham thinks nature is explained through reference to the laws of physics, and not through appeal to any religious ideas, so human behaviour can be explained by reference to the two natural, primary motives of pleasure and pain; this is the theory of psychological hedonism. There is, Bentham admits, no direct proof of such an analysis of human motivation—though he holds that it is clear that, in acting, all people implicitly refer to it. At the beginning of the Introduction...
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...ARISTOTLE'S EUDAIMONIA Eudaimonia stands for happiness in Greek. Aristotle argues that the highest good for human beings is happiness. He insists that every action performed by humans is to pursue happiness. Aristotle also argues that human action is always aimed at some end or good. This "good" may not be viewed as a good action or any good by others, but for the doer of the action ("good"), the activity will be perceived as good and that it will bring a favorable outcome. Aristotle also said that all of our actions resulting in ends or goods form a hierarchy. This hierarchy, incorporates a ladder of things, and this ladder would categorize things according to their importance. And the most important thing would be on top of the ladder, thus being the ultimate end. This ultimate end is what all the actions aim to reach at or achieve. [This end must be self-sufficient, it must be attainable and it must be what we want]1. Therefore, because happiness includes all these, then it must be the highest good. An example of this ladder could be a person working hard to lose weight or trying to stay in shape. The bottom step of the ladder is the person working out in a gym, but why is the person working out? To lose weight or maintain their shape. Why does the person want to lose weight or maintain their shape? To look good physically and to be healthy. Why does the person want to look good or be healthy? To be attractive and to lead a stress-less and a comfortable life. And why does...
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...they are signing up for. Anil Netto quoted in the article titled “Health-Asia: Ethics in Outsourcing Drug Trials Questioned,” that by doing these clinical trials in foreign countries, drug companies are “exploiting the healthy who are strapped for cash and the sick who seek cheap or free remedies.” In regards to the utilitarian theory, testing drugs in foreign countries would prove to be unethical. Utilitarianism more specifically act utilitarianism tells us that we should always do an action that generates the greatest happiness for whoever is affected by the act. In act utilitarianism one must consider all consequences of a singular action, and then act if and only if that action maximizes utility for all affected. This type of utilitarianism only has us answer one specific question which is “does this specific action maximize happiness or utility for all parties affected?” Although clinical trials may be useful in finding new drugs and could maximize happiness by doing so. In a way yes, clinical trials could help the medical world and patients, but are the consequences and side effects of these trials worth the risk? In the article stated above, Netto states although clinical trials are supposed to follow specific guidelines, but “these official guidelines are not binding...
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...The Evolution of Money In separate places, under different cultures, all over the world, the concept of a "medium of exchange" grew. People noticed that some goods were easier to trade than others. And people also noticed that these "more tradeable goods" had similar properties: * They were durable * They were easily divisible into larger or smaller amounts. * They were comparatively scarce, procuring them required effort. * They were "homogeneous". Every item of the commodity was exactly like every other item. * They were convenient. It was easy to carry enough around to made trades for other commodities. Over time, a shorter and shorter list of commodities passed all these tests. These select commodities began to exhibit a sixth property, all important in the evolution of money. This short list of commodities (most of them metals) had one thing in common with all other commodities. They were useful and commanded an exchange value in their own right. But because they were easier to trade than any other goods, they came to be perceived as having a value over and above their basic utility. They came to have a value as a "most (easily) tradable good". They came to have a value as a MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. Once this value became widely recognized, the commodity in question was no longer "consumed" for any but the most vital purposes. Instead, it was used in exchange. It had become MONEY. The Significance of Money We live in a culture that is 100% monetized....
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...Possessive Pronouns. | * Uncountable Noun * Nouns that can’t be counted in terms of number are regarded as uncountable noun. (Information, Fire, Milk, Hair, Air,) * Nouns that are measured in terms of their weights. (Oil, Bread, Soap, Butter, Rice, Pulse etc) * CPN measured in terms of weights. (Potatoes, Tomatoes etc.) * Nouns that are regarded as unit. (Time, Wealth, Furniture, News, Money etc) * Material & Abstract Nouns are Uncountable. ( Water, Gold, Wood, Gas, Petrol, Diesel, Honesty, Freedom, Happiness, Education, Kindness, Power, Unemployment, Health, Poverty, Unity, Independence, Knowledge, Advice, Anger, Friendship, Beauty, Permission, Beauty) * In nouns we have such suffixes as— tion, ism, sion, ment, ty, nce, hood, dom, ness, ship, ing, ce, |...
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...friends and family. But for others, this time of year is a financial burden and brings sadness to many who cannot contribute to this joyful experience. B. Thesis: The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program strives to collect new toys each year to distribute as Christmas gifts among the less fortunate. C. Credibility: I have done extensive research on this topic and have become familiar with this program. D. Preview: This afternoon, I will discuss the Toys for Tots mission, the financial hardships faced by many in our community, and the many ways your contribution can make a difference. Body II. Need: Every year there are many children who go through the...
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...whom is in the market to personalize there home and that can look past all the big name chain stores. Whitt's creative corner will offer the best individualized products and will have the best customer service. Customers will not have to hassle with third parties to order anything it will come directly to those who make the items themselves. Whitt's creative corner will also offer online services that customers can order from and have items shipped to anywhere in the U.S., our website is (https://www.facebook.com/whittscreativecorner). A- Whitt’s Creative Corner, 1234 Home décor ave Killeen Texas 76549, 254-123-4567 B- 1. Joseph Whitt, 1234 Home décor ave Killeen Texas 76549, 254-123-4567 2. Elise Whitt, 1234 Home décor ave Killeen Texas 76549, 254-123-4567 C- Whitt's creative corner is a small home décor store that can personalize anything for your home. D- There are plenty home décor place within the area, however none of them personalize items that fit your home and lifestyle. E- Whitt's creative corner will be successful because we are the only décor business that gives the power to the customer as to what they want. The customer chooses everything. F- Our staff has been doing home décor items for many years we have plenty of references. It was just recent that our business was created because we wanted to share our talents with the world and not just family and friends. G- All money at first will go directly back into the business to replenish...
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...Capitalism works by promoting hard work for its citizens. Hard work yields a much more productive society. In Major Barbara, Undershaft is the capitalist who shows Barbara that giving the poor the skills to work on their own is much more beneficial than simply donating to them. Unemployment is the foundation of poverty. To employ citizens is to eradicate poverty. Undershaft knows that the poor will only become poorer if they do not have the proper skills to survive. The Salvation Army and other charitable organizations do not promote self-sufficiency. People are not happy when they cannot take care of themselves. People accepting help from others often feel guilty and ashamed of what they are taking. A recent study has shown the happiness levels of European countries that have recently switched to a capitalistic society. Suicide rates have greatly decreased since the switch, thus demonstrating the increase in the nation’s morale. As Shaw strongly depicts the advantages of capitalism, other points of view are also demonstrated in the play. Barbara’s point of view is to help those in need through her work at the Salvation Army. Barbara’s goals are to inspire hope and faith in people and introduce them to the church. Barbara believes that The Salvation Army is the only thing...
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...Chapter 1 The Imperatives of Ethics Ethics presupposes some imperatives or sine qua non, those without which Ethics would not be possible. These imperatives are: 1) the existence of God or a Supreme Being; 2) the existence of human freedom; 3) the existence of an afterlife, i.e. life beyond the grave, or the immortality of the soul. 1. The existence of God or a Supreme Being Without the existence of God or a Supreme Being, Ethics would make no sense. There is no reason for man to deny himself evil but pleasurable acts if there were no final judge to dispense justice. When one speaks off morality or the goodness or badness of human acts, one idea, is presupposed: retribution. Retribution means that good acts deserve reward; bad acts deserve punishment. Reward and punishment are presupposed by morality. Who metes out reward or punishment? It must be a Lawgiver or an Arbiter of Morality, One who dispenses retributive justice. Without this being, the whole structure of Ethics will collapse. At this early point, it must be explained that cultures other than the Christian speak of retribution in a different way. In some cases, the Supreme Being is not a personal God in Whom Christians believe, but rather a law or a process. These cultures had been in existence long before the biblical and Christian eras. The people of these ancient cultures arrived at these concepts by way of human reasoning without the aid of divine revelation. The Indians do not accept the...
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