...Deontology & Slavery PHI208: Ethics and Moral Reasoning Deontological ethics is a moral theory that is somewhat agreeable and sympathetic to human rights. Deontology focuses not on the consequences of actions but on the duties we have; and one man’s rights are another man’s duties. Deontology is based on the idea that good consequences do not override our duties. Doing the right thing is more important than increasing the good in society. The idea is that if you do the right thing versus what is good for society ultimately it will become what is good for society. Deontology does not accept slavery. Humans should be treated as objects of intrinsic moral value; that is, as ends in themselves and never as a mere means to some other end. We are not to enslave torture or murder one person even if that would increase total welfare. Respecting people’s right to be free is not simply good to do because you will be condemned if you don’t. It’s also more than the proper thing to do. It’s not just something that is strongly logical or something that you should do. Deontology is based on duties. A duty is specific and is something you must do. In all of my research I find that deontological ethics is widely against slavery in every way. Whether is against slavery because of the action or the consequence you will find that no form of deontology supports slavery. Based on Immanuel Kant’s ideal justice would always be safeguarded for individuals who are always “ends in themselves”...
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...Relativism: A term underlined by consequence. Abstract Relativism argues that there are no absolute truths. It suggests that the concept of right and wrong in any given human behavior can only be determined by applying its relevance to the culture of the given subject. Culture “A” may believe in and practice female circumcision while culture “B” may unequivocally oppose it. In both cultures, there is a fundamental difference in what they believe to be the truth about this ritual. One person might view it as custom, or a rite, or a sacred practice. Another may view it as a brutal and primitive method of control. It all depends on where you are standing, so with regard to personal, cultural, and ethical beliefs, the only absolute truth is that there are no absolute truths. However, this does not discredit the notion of universal moral requirements. Absolute truths do exist. They exist because there are consequences to every action, and no matter what context, perception, or point of view one possesses, the concept of action versus consequence is a universal constant. Genocide kills many people. That is not a belief. If you commit genocide, it is absolutely true that people will die. It is a consequence. If we all desired the consequences of genocide then we would all be gone. Fortunately, most of us do not wish to commit genocide, but for those who do, they feel that they have a good enough reason to do so because there is a desired consequence of that action. Suicide...
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...Kolchin’s claims of slavery being an unviable method. Whitney presents his reasons for inventing a machine to gin cotton in a letter written to his father in the same year, where he states that this machine ‘would be a great thing both to the Country and to the inventor… It makes the labor fifty times less, without throwing any class of people out of business.’ This letter shows Whitney’s intent for helping to create a better and more efficient economy through his invention, which would decrease the amount of effort and labour need to pick, separate and clean cotton before sending it to cotton mills then to overseas trading. However, by stating that his invention would not put ‘any class’ out of work presents Whitney’s belief that slavery is a viable method of producing cotton and that making the Cotton Gin was by no means a replacement for slave labour but an extension of it....
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...white opportunity and black slavery (Tindal & Shi 2012). Due to the Southern colonies climate advantage it enabled them to grow exotic staples which demanded the need for more labor. Indentured servants, person promised to work for a fixed number of years in return for land or freedom, were either voluntary or forced to serve for a master. Indentured servants were used as a solution to the agricultural labor problem within the colonies. Their rights were limited and engaging in trade was prohibited which enabled slavery to later be enforced. Changes and problems aided to indentured servants’ beginning and decline within colonies. Colonies faces unintended consequences of using indentured servants such as weather conditions or...
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...During the mid-nineteenth century, the south permitted and defended slavery as oppose to northerners and other European countries. Southerners believed that slaves was the key for their stern production of cotton, the basis of their economy. Whereas the northern moral disagreed toward slavery, even though slave’s benefited everyone, except slaves. These different beliefs led up to the inevitable breakup of the Union. Throughout history the concept of slavery had conflicting views about treatment and advantages towards African Americans, up to the point that the north and the south were at the brink of war. Certain citizen’s believed African Americans faced racial prejudice in the the north no less than in the south which came to light the change that need’s to be done concerning slavery. Southerner’s felt the need to defend slavery using anything that benefitted, specifically religion, so that...
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...In today’s world most people believe that slavery has ended, but really millions of people are still trapped in slavery. Slavery existed in America since the founding of this country, and it was legal and accepted until Abraham Lincoln announced the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery. In 2018, “Modern slavery has no legal definition but includes human trafficking, forced labor, debt bondage and forced marriage”(Rossman). People are debating on whether or not the Thirteenth Amendment is still effective today. When analyzing the research of the Thirteenth Amendment one can determine why it was put into the Bill of Rights, the purpose of the amendment, and that the Thirteenth Amendment is definitely not effective in today’s America....
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...much about was Surinam. Located on the northwest corner of Brazil, Stedman was sent to Surinam from the Netherlands to help put down a slave revolt that was threatening the existence of the colony. Throughout his stay Stedman wrote about all that he saw. One thing that became a focus of his writings was the issue of slavery. He wrote about specific slaves and Negros he came in contact with, the perception that others had of these people, the treatment of these slaves and the rising tensions and conflicts between the revolting slaves and the colonists. At times he would write in a tone that sensed he favored abolishing slavery but this was far from the case. Stedman never acknowledged that he wanted to end slavery but rather he expressed his concerns and feelings towards the ways that slavery could be improved in the colony but still present and a vital part to the land. The reasons for this are that he felt slavery was not wrong, he realized how crucial slavery was to the economic success of the colony and the consequences that would arise from freeing the slaves. One of Stedman’s main points throughout this entire book was that he was not against the idea of slavery. “From all this I must conclude that this trade, or buying of Negro slaves, is not so bad a thing as some try to support, while it is the effects that follow from it alone are the complicated evils” (Stedman, 91) This quote shows how Stedman was in favor of the selling and trading of slaves but once this transaction...
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...began to have a growth of the abolitionist movement and increasing anti-slavery notions. The reason for the growing movement that opposed slavery was mainly caused by the Second Great Awakening and religious notions that stemmed from it, the growing notions of Sectionalism and the consequences of the early abolition of slavery in most New England states, and Racial Paternalism as a justification for slavery and the consequences of such. One reason slavery began to have growing opposition to it is due to the Second Great Awakening. Historically, the increase in religious fervor from the Second Great Awakening brought about reform movements such as the women’s suffrage movement, movements for the reform...
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...age of Manifest Destiny is, at its heart, an age of expansion--or rather, an age of many expansions. Examine the interplay of three of these expansions: the expansion of slavery, the expansion of the market economy, and geographic expansion of the nation. How did these three expansions reinforce and feed off of each other? How did they bring the nation to what William Henry Seward referred to as the brink of an "Irrepressible Conflict" by 1858? Answer As America was growing, at a vast rate that might have been one of the side effects of expansion and it looking forward for room to expand. American believed that it was their God given choice or right to occupy others area. It was getting more common about to expanding widely than they captured many states and made them slave. It was believed that the expansion of slavery was the result of popular sovereignty. As the expansion of territories took place, slavery expanded a long with it. The expansion of slavery would not have been resolved until and unless some crises arose. However, the two options that were to be considered were either to extend slavery to all as the territories expanded or to end it completely. There was not concept of practicing slavery in one territory and not in the other. It had to be practiced uniformly in all territories. Slavery was not the problem then they gradually grew to be, although there were some rumblings in this issue. No abolitionists were as of yet asking for the releasing slaves and furthermore...
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...topic/subtopic. For example, if a topic is divided into 3 subtopics, you may write a maximum of 250 per subtopic listed. Be sure to cite all sources. Major Event/Epoch in American History | Time Period/Date(s) | Description and Significance of the People/Event(s) to American History | 1) The evolution of the institution of slavery from the Colonial Period to the 1860s. | 1619 - 1865 | Slavery began with in 1619 with the first slaves brought to Virginia as indentured servants. As time goes by, slavery becomes more popular, to help with farming large farms or plantations. Though the Declaration of Independence in 1776 states that “all men are created equal” this did not apply to people of color. By the time the Civil War starts, slavery is big business, and the south is fighting for the right to keep it. In 1865 the U.S. abolishes slavery with the 13th Amendment. | 2) The socio-cultural impact of the abolitionist movement including: a) The effect of Uncle Tom’s Cabin b) The Kansas-Nebraska Act c) The Compromise of 1850 d) The Underground Railroad | 1850 - 1865 | a) Uncle Tom’s Cabin brought to light the horrors of slavery. This gave more fuel to the already strong abolitionist movement. b) The Kansas-Nebraska Act created the territories...
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...The slavery was practiced during the beginning of the colonial era where the Declaration of Independence of the United States was signed. Slavery refers to the legal institution that existed in the United States during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Speaking a little more about what was the United States Independence, it can be said that this was not the act that initiated the Declaration of Independence in 1776, but much earlier, for example; the American settlers was such an important idea as self-government and financial management. It was a class of free ideas both economic and social that led to Independence. Therefore, we can talk about what was the American Revolution, the New Republic and the consequences of the Civil War....
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...country of origin, transit, or destination for victims. Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. First and foremost, I am passionate about human trafficking because it is a serious crime that is a grave violation of human rights. Secondly, as mentioned before, human trafficking happens everywhere—even in seemingly harmless Kansas. Lastly, because a disproportionate number of women are involved in human trafficking, both as the victim and the culprit (as a way to escape their victimisation), it is terrifying to think that I could be targeted at any time. There are many causes of human trafficking, and they vary by country, culture, etc. Personally, I believe the root cause of human trafficking lies in the sickness of people that capitalize on the fact that some people are willing...
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...was Harriet Tubman. She escaped the South and into the North in 1849. “She then made 19 trips to the south and helped free over 300 slaves.” Another historical participant in the underground railroad was John Fairfield, he was the son of a slaveholding family, and he made bold decisions to help slave pass through. A third historical person that helped fugitive in the underground railroad was Levi Coffin. He was a Quaker who assisted more than 3,000 slaves that were going north. Results/Consequences There were many consequences and results of racism during this time. The large amount of slaves that escaped angered the white people of the south, which eventually lead to the strengthening of Fugitive Slave Laws in the 1840’s. Then 10 years later in 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was put into place, that stated the slaves that were found in the North even though slavery was illegal there, would be brought back to their owners. Because of the South wanting to have slavery and the north against slavery, tension between both sides caused Civil War in 1861. So...
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...People/Event(s) to American History | 1) The evolution of the institution of slavery from the Colonial Period to the 1860s. | 1860-1865 | To the southern colonist, slavery became profitable after the cotton gin was invented. The cotton gin helped produce a large cash flow along with manual labor jobs. Prior to the cotton gin slave trade was done most by the New England colonies, this was called “Triangle Trade”. (www.civilwarhome.com) | 2) The socio-cultural impact of the abolitionist movement including: a) The effect of Uncle Tom’s Cabin b) The Kansas-Nebraska Act c) The Compromise of 1850 d) The Underground Railroad | 1800-1870 | In the middle colonies the abolitionism began early. Most people in Pennsylvania were against slavery due to a moral stand, while the upper and middle colonies did not contribute to the slave market. While on the other hand in the south the use of slaves continued to thrive for labor plantations as well as creating a group in which the poorest of whites could turn their noses up at. A small group of religious and moral causes began the Abolition Movement. Nevertheless they took to the north as a political group with federal powers. In the 1800’s efforts were curved too avoid the issues of slavery altogether such as Henry Clay’s compromises attempting to delay conflict, which quickly deteriorated after his death. The south began to make the slavery issues one of State Rights and free will instead of Federal. The south used...
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...example, if a topic is divided into 3 subtopics, you may write a maximum of 250 per subtopic listed. Be sure to cite all sources. Major Event/Epoch in American History | Time Period/Date(s) | Description and Significance of the People/Event(s) to American History | 1) The evolution of the institution of slavery from the Colonial Period to the 1860s. | 1600s-1860s | Slavery was the main source of manual labors in the southern territories after the invention of cotton gin; since the machine increase the profitable cash and required more manual labor- leading to the plantation system. Prior to this event, slave trade was mostly involved in New England- the triangle trade, which keep the flow of slaves to Europe in exchange for molasses; the main ingredient for rum making. | 2) The socio-cultural impact of the abolitionist movement including: a) The effect of Uncle Tom’s Cabin b) The Kansas-Nebraska Act c) The Compromise of 1850 d) The Underground Railroad | a) 1851-1852 b) 1854 c) 1850 d) 1800s | A- The abolitionism movement opposes the idea of slavery on the moral ground for many Northerners did not believe in the slavery system for their economy doesn’t base on the plantation system which requires much more...
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