...Ethical language has no meaning. Discuss (35 Marks) The meaning and function of ethical language is the focus of meta-ethics. It can be discussed whether ethical language has any meaning at all by looking at different perspectives. An ethical naturalist would say that all ethical statements are the same as non-ethical ones; they’re factual and can, therefore, be true or false. So ‘Thomas More was executed for his beliefs in 1535’ and ‘Thomas More was a good man’ can be proved true or false by looking at the evidence. If we can find evidence, we can conclude that Thomas More was good and if not, we can conclude he was not. The same holds for any moral issue for example if one wants to know if euthanasia is right or wrong. They simply look at the evidence so they can test the accuracy of the statement, and from this they could argue that euthanasia ends suffering for an individual, therefore euthanasia is right. Ethical naturalist is an objective and cognitive theory, which means that they claim that there are moral facts and that they can be known, perhaps through reason, or through revelation and that they are true for everyone, for all time. Therefore ethical naturalists see ethical language as meaningful because they argue that ethical language has an underlined content of purpose. For example a knife is good if it cuts sharply. Therefore ethical language is showing what terms such as ‘good’ mean through the content of purpose within an ethical statement and is therefore...
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...‘Ethical Language is meaningful’ Discuss The great discussion within Ethics is trying to unravel the meanings of essential terms, such as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, this differs from normative ethics, which tries to decide which things are good and bad and gives us a guide for moral behaviour – it’s the analysis of ethical language, but this also arises a question that many Ethicists and Philosophers have been asking for centuries - how meaningful is ethical language? This is known as Meta ethics. Ethical language has two separate approaches it can take – cognitive language which is realist and objective, being able to come up with ethical statements from nature and believing it to be true. For instance, if I said that rape is wrong, then I have given rape the property of wrongness, so according to a cognitivist my statement is objectively true or false and applies to everyone. On the other hand, you are able to follow a non-cognitivist route which is anti-realist and subjective. So they don’t agree that when making a moral statement it applies to all, but you are rather expressing feelings or telling people what to do, they are not descriptive so they can’t be described as true or false – they are subjective. The debate begins with Bradley who falls under the cognitive approach. He believes that we derive moral values from our society, we look at our community and from that we learn how to behave, so we use those morals that we have learnt and put them into practice in our society...
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...To what extent is ethical language meaningful (35 Marks) The analysis of ethical language is called meta-ethics and what Meta-ethics does is look at the meaning of the language that is used in ethical statements and it includes questions about whether those statements are true or false or whether those statements are just expressions of emotion and if it is the truth then is it the truth for everybody or just a select few depending on society and culture, Meta-Ethics Is broken down into two sections and they are called cognitive and non-cognitive and these are two different perspectives on the meaningfulness of ethical language. Cognitivism involves a view that states moral knowledge is possible and therefore all ethical statements can be meaningful because they can be proved whether they are true or false. Non Cognitivism on the other hand involves the belief that there can be no ethical knowledge because ethical language and statements give no factual information and therefore they are not as meaningful as they are not subject to the true or false test and this approach suggests that they are just expressions of emotion and prescriptive recommendations. The naturalistic fallacy is a form of ethical non-naturalism and it was devised by G.E Moore and Moore believed that the term “good” is a simple term like “that’s yellow” and it couldn’t be defined and he also believed that we couldn’t prove moral statements through the use of evidence, Moore also believed that the only...
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...Meta Ethics ‘Ethical language has no purpose as it does not provide any answers.’ Discuss. ‘Understanding ethical language can help in making moral decisions.’ Discuss ‘Prescriptivism means that words such as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ have absolute meanings.’ Discuss ‘Learning what ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ mean is the most important purpose of ethical language.’ Discuss To what extent is ethical language meaningful? Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of emotivism. Virtue Ethics ‘The problem with Virtue Ethics is that it gives no definite answers to moral problems.’ Discuss. ‘Virtue ethics is not the best approach to ethical decision making.’ Discuss ‘Modern virtue ethics is very different from those taught by Aristotle.’ Discuss Explain the strengths and weaknesses of Virtue Ethics. Conscience Assess the view that conscience should always be obeyed. ‘Conscience is innate.’ Discuss ‘Conscience is vital when making moral decisions.’ Discuss. Assess the view that conscience is not a reliable guide to ethical decision making. ‘Conscience need not always be obeyed.’ Discuss ‘Conscience is a reliable moral guide.’ Discuss Assess the view that conscience need not always be obeyed. Evaluate the claim that conscience is the voice of God. Sexual Ethics ‘Sex and relationships are matters of personal choice.’ Discuss. ‘Virtue ethics is a good approach to the issues surrounding sex and relationships.’ Discuss ‘No ethical theory offers a satisfactory approach to issues...
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...2012 |All ethical language is prescriptive.’ Discuss. [35] | |Critically assess the claim that free will and determinism are compatible. [35] |3 To what extent do modern versions of Virtue Ethics address the weaknesses of Aristotle’s teaching on virtue? [35] | |For moral issues surrounding sex the demands of conscience override other ethical considerations.’ | |June 2011 |‘Ethical statements are no more than expressions of emotion.’ Discuss. | |Critically assess the view that we are not responsible for our evil actions |To what extent is Virtue Ethics helpful when making decisions about extramarital sex? |Assess the claim that secular approaches to environmental issues are of more help than religious approaches. | | |Jan 2011 | |Critically assess the claim that conscience is the voice of reason. (35) |Our ethical decisions are merely the result of social conditioning. Discuss. (35) | |The environment suffers because business has no ethics. Discuss. (35) |Natural Law is the most reliable approach when making decisions about pre-marital sex. Discuss. (35) | |June 2010 | | |Critically assess the claim that people are free to make moral decisions. (35) |‘The weaknesses of Virtue Ethics outweigh its strengths.’ Discuss. (35) |Assess the usefulness of Religious Ethics as an ethical approach to business. (35) |To what extent are ethical theories helpful when considering the issues surrounding homosexuality? (35) | |Jan 2010 |To what extent is ethical language meaningful? (35) |Assess...
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...' Discuss [35] The Verification principle was formed by the Vienna Circle, a group of philosophers (logical positivists) who approached the problem of religious language with Verificationism and the verification principle. The Vienna Circle believed that meaningful statements are either analytical or synthetic. Analytical statements are true by definition, for example, 2+2=4 or a square has 4 sides. On the other hand, synthetic statements require verification to prove whether they're true or not, for example, if somebody says it is a cloudy day, you would have to look out your window to see that it is cloudy. An issue with the verification principle is that we make statements based on unverifiable opinion all the time. This means important ethical statements are regarded as meaningless as well. This means that it argues that the laws of science and historic statements are also meaningless as they too cannot be truly verifiable. The verification principle offers a challenge to belief because when we speak of God we need to be cautious because some may argue that we could portray god as anthropomorphic. The Verification Principle can also be seen as a challenge for religion because the verification principle states that something must be proven to be true or false (i.e. verifiable or falsifiable) for it to be meaningful. An atheist would argue that religions lack empirical evidence which is required to prove the existence of a God. Ayer's doubted the existence of a God due to this...
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...Removing Subjectivity: Wittgenstein, Carnap and Modernist Architecture. Peter Morton 1. Introduction In this paper I want to address the coincidence of two powerful cultural forces of the early 20th century: modernist design in architecture and the philosophy of logical empiricism. This coincidence is most dramatically represented in the connection between two groups, who have each had powerful cultural influence in this century: The Bauhaus (1919 - 1933: Weimar, Dessau, Berlin, Chicago) The “Vienna Circle” (1922 - 1938: Vienna, Amsterdam. The former became the premier school of modernist design, and contained as faculty many of the most influential artists, designers and architects of the century. The Vienna Circle was a group consisting mostly of non-philosophers, who met weekly for discussion of philosophical issues. These informal meetings brought about the birth of logical empiricism, a movement which set the agenda for philosophy in America after the second world war. Herbert Feigl, Otto Neurath and Rudolph Carnap, central participants in the Vienna Circle, gave public lectures at the Bauhaus beginning in summer of 1929, when the Bauhaus was in Dessau under the leadership in Hannes Meyer. Their influence was sufficiently strong that logical empiricist philosophy became part of the standard curriculum of the school. A second very clear connection between modernist architecture and logical empiricism is the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein...
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...Religious and Ethical Language are about facts. Discuss. In order to analyse whether language, religious or ethical are about facts it is vital to define facts. According to Honderich a fact can be defined as the worldly correlation of a true proposition, in other words a state of affairs make a statement true or false. There are two main schools of thought as to how ethical and religious language is to be treated. The cognitivists argue that statements about religion and ethics possess truth value, and hence can be known. As such the case such statements can be about facts. For example ‘Hitler is evil’ or ‘God exists’ is knowable in the sense that it corresponds to events that are occurring in the world. This view presents the correspondence theory of truth, which is what has now become to be known as early Wittgenstein’s writings. It argues that statements are true so far as in it paints a picture about the world it must relate to and derive meaning out of. As such the case religious and ethical truths are to be discovered. Ethical naturalists such as F.H. Bradley have argued that ethical language is about facts of the world. It is argued that moral statements which are subjective statements about values can be translated into facts or objective statements of fact. Thus it can be argued that ‘Hitler is evil’ is a true statement on the account that he was responsible for mass murder. This view was challenged by Hume. Hume argued that it is not possible to move from...
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...Can Keep Their Companies Ethical Choose Ethical Leaders Unethical leaders = Unethical employees Codes of ethics will have limited to no impact No respect for “do as I say, not as do” managers Ask the right questions Ask about a dilemma and how it was resolved Hypothetical ethical dilemma Current business ethics in the news Have an Independent Board of Directors Ensure organizations future, policies, and objectives Do not do enough questioning of management’s decisions for ethical standards More interested in what to gain than what’s best for company Conflicts of interest hamper ability to make good decisions Most Boards Rely on management to keep informed No time, skill, or background in complex business transactions “Go along to get along” mind-set that discourages questioning Should do the following Avoid nepotism, no family on board Institute structural reforms Ask outsiders to serve on the board Provide information in clear language Invite questioning Have a Living Code of Ethics Make sure it is not a forgotten piece of paper Continually reviewed, training, examples, self-policing Applies to everyone in the company Explain the Reasoning behind Your Code Explain why Apply Ethical Standards to Everyone Applies to everyone From high management to part-time employees Value Ethics over Performance Structure reward programs to encourage ethical compliance Give the responsibility of enforcing ethical standards to someone else ...
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...we be cultural relativists without being complete ethical relativists? NO Should anthropologists merely be amoral observers? NO What do cultural anthropologists do? - Generally engage in participant observation – - Also use interviewing, surveying, consensuses, other - Extended stay in research site - Conduct research in local language - May develop close ties with local people Know ethnology and ethnography Ethnography may generalize from a limited time experience or contact with a small number of people Ethnographer cannot see or experience everything or every perspective - Subjectivity of data Ethnography is frequently rife with ethical dilemma LANGUAGE - is a human biological adaption - We are hardwired to acquire language, but it can only be activated through society - There may be basic principle and rules which are foundation of all languages (Chomsky – “universal grammar”) - Words are SYMBOLS – something that stands for something else - Since the relationship between sound and meaning is symbolic: humans can combine worlds and sounds into new, meaningful utterances that have never been heard before - Symbols enable humans to transmit and store information (including abstract concepts) - This allows us to create and transmit culture What is Boroditsky’s main point in “How languages shape thought?” - Anthropologists have long been interested in the relationship between language and culture - Does language merely label or describe Sapir-whorf hypothesis...
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...guide highlights some of the most important concepts addressed in the textbook readings for which you are accountable in Quiz 2. Review this material as you prepare for the quiz. Not everything in this guide will be on the quiz, and not everything on the quiz will derive from this guide. Indeed, you should carefully review the readings for other noteworthy facts, terms, or concepts that you might encounter on the quiz. KEY WORDS Topic selection Ethical behavior Plagiarism General purpose Specific purpose Thesis statement Audience definition Facts Statistics Examples Testimony Analogies Introduction Body Conclusion Language Fillers Stages of speech tension SUMMARY Putting together an effective public speech requires good planning. In order to construct and to deliver such a speech, you should follow an eight-step process. First, decide on a topic. Before choosing a topic, make sure you know the amount of time you have to speak, your level of knowledge about the topic, and the needs of your audience. Second, resolve to demonstrate ethical behavior throughout the process. This requires you to use accurate and current information, to rely on sound reasoning, to present a speech based on your own independent research and views, to cite sources, and to quote and to paraphrase correctly when you present information that is not your own. Third, determine the general purpose, specific purpose, and thesis statement. A speech may have one of three general purposes: to inform, to persuade...
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...intellectual because of her thoughtfulness and provocative discussions on the connections among class, gender, race, ethnicity, and language” (“bell hooks,” n.d., p. 655). hooks’ knowledge and beliefs enable me to view the role of care and caring thinking from a culturally responsive perspective. In fact, when I think of class, gender, race, ethnicity, and language, I think of culturally responsive teaching. A pedagogy that requires teachers to recognize how vital it is for him or her to include his or her students’ cultural references in the classroom (“Culturally Responsive Teaching,” n.d.). One’s culture is central to his or her learning, and for that reason, it is pivotal for schools to reshape their curriculums. An ideal curriculum is one that is significant, student-centered, and multicultural especially since the end goal is to have students apply his or her knowledge in the real world--a meaningful education. To conclude, hooks has forced me to realize that a care thinking educator is one that encourages culturally responsive teaching--respect for all...
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...the product or service being offered is important if you want to give a positive impression to those outside the team: * In my role it is important to have product and service knowledge. My customers are the Test Operators and they have many queries/problems throughout the day. By having product and service knowledge I can answer any questions or repair test equipment in a timely manner. This knowledge also gives a positive impression to those outside the team. Explain why it is important to observe legal, organisational and ethical rules when providing information to customers: * As an employee we must obey all legal, organisational and ethical rules and policies when dealing with customers. This is important because it creates a good image and creates a good relationship with the customer. All rules and policies are there to protect the employee and employer. xxxxxxx believes that by doing business in accordance with a genuine, meaningful ethics program makes the company much stronger and at the same time protects its shareholders and employees. Briefly describe two communication skills you need to be able to communicate effectively with people outside the...
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...A2 PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION: RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE What follows should act as reminders. For full revision you need to do more than rely on these notes. Use your course notes, essays and text books. 1. Key Words: Religious language is cognitive if it is thought of as conveying knowledge of what is really there. Religious language is non-cognitive it is thought as conveying feelings or expressing desires or guiding ways of behaving. Religious language is realist if it is thought of as conveying testable facts that actually pertain in reality. Religious language is non-realist it is thought of as conveying guiding ideals but with no basis in factual reality. Religious language offers a correspondence theory of truth if it is thought of as being able to point to the reality that it is trying to convey. Religious language offers a coherence theory of truth if it is thought of as conveying making sense within a network of other beliefs which people hold to be true. 2. What Religious Language is: Religious language is an outlet for emotion in special times of life. Religious language is the language of worship. It is performative, ‘I baptise you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’, and it is prescriptive (law making – i.e. honour your father and mother). However, none these uses of religious language is our focus. Our focus is how religious language might make truth claims about the reality of God and whether it can succeed in doing this. Philosophers...
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...COUNCIL FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN Special Education Professional Ethical Principles Professional special educators are guided by the CEC professional ethical principles, practice standards, and professional policies in ways that respect the diverse characteristics and needs of individuals with exceptionalities and their families. They are committed to upholding and advancing the following principles: 1. Maintaining challenging expectations for individuals with exceptionalities to develop the highest possible learning outcomes and quality of life potential in ways that respect their dignity, culture, language, and background. 2. Maintaining a high level of professional competence and integrity and exercising professional judgment to benefit individuals with exceptionalities and their families. 3. Promoting meaningful and inclusive participation of individuals with exceptionalities in their schools and communities. 4. Practicing collegially with others who are providing services to individuals with exceptionalities. 5. Developing relationships with families based on mutual respect and actively involving families and individuals with exceptionalities in educational decision making. 6. Using evidence, instructional data, research, and professional knowledge to inform practice. 7. Protecting and supporting the physical and psychological safety of individuals with exceptionalities. 8. Neither engaging in nor tolerating any practice that harms individuals with...
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