...believed in a common feeling for each other’s welfare. We all have a capacity for compassion, but it has nothing to do with reason. You can’t go from a factual statement (an ‘is’) to a moral one (an ‘ought). Logical positivism acknowledged that moral facts were not like scientific ones, but went on to conclude that they were not facts at all. If I make a statement, it is either true or false depending whether someone in principle could go and check the facts to which I refer. If there is no possible evidence that can be given either for or against that statement being true, then it is meaningless. This approach was summed up as: “The meaning of a statement is its method of verification”. I.e. to say ‘X exists’ means ‘if you go and look, you will see X’. This view of language is found in the early work of Wittgenstein. His Tractatus (1921) was an immensely influential book, which inspired a group of philosophers known as the Vienna Circle, and it was there that logical positivism developed. Its influence was spread by the publication in 1936 of Language, Truth and Logic by A. J. Ayer. Ayer claimed that there were only two kinds of propositions: • Truths known by definition (e.g. maths and logic) • Truths known through sense experience (i.e. proved by external facts) i.e. synthetic and analytic statements Where do moral statements come in such a scheme? If they are known by definition then they are mere tautologies, claiming nothing. OTOH, how can you point to...
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...The branch of ethics that discusses the meaning and indeed the validity of the word good is called Meta-ethics, meaning ‘beyond' ethics lies ethical language. From here there are two separate branches, cognitive; where "goodness" can be known as an analytic (Moore) or synthetic (naturalists like Mill) property of the world and non-cognitive; where "goodness" cannot be know as a property of the world. Within the non-cognitivists are another group called emotivists, they uphold the view that the word good is merely an expression of feeling. I partially agree with the emotivists view that moral statements are merely an expression of feeling, but I also think that as the ‘good is so exceedingly ambiguous' (Stevenson) that any of the meta-ethical theories have validity to them. Emotivism says that moral statements merely express positive or negative feelings; it is mainly based on better to say, "it's an empirical tradition which stems from..." the work of the Scottish philosopher and empiricist Hume and the idea of Hume's fork. "When you pronounce any action or character to be vicious, you mean... you have a feeling or sentiment of blame." - David Hume. This idea was taken forward by A.J. Ayer who also believed that moral statements were primarily expressions of emotion, hence Emotivism, his theory has been called Hurrah-Boo theory An example of this is to imagine you and a friend are at a football game supporting different teams. When one team scores you cheer and your friend...
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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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...‘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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...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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...To Stay or to Leave? Christine Amargo SOC 120 Intro to Ethics and Social Responsibility Denise Antoon April 21, 2014 In the United States of America, we face many different ethical problems each and every day. Some of the ethical problems that we have to deal with are hunger, war, poverty, crime, and terrorism, but the biggest ethical issue the United States has to deal ethical with is immigration. There are many issues dealing with immigrations, such as immigration laws. Many questions come up about this topic in today's society, like how do we stop immigration or do we even stop it? Not all immigrants are bad some are useful to the United States; we have to remember that the first people in America were immigrants. We do not have the right to deport others back to their native land. Many people from different countries try so hard to get to United States looking for a better life. There are many reasons why immigrants migrate to different countries, especially the United States of America home of the free. Some reasons are employment opportunities or careers that are not available in their native land, improved quality of life, and refuge from war. Most immigrants focus on making sure their children have a better life they had; those people show the theory of utilitarianism. "Utilitarianism argues that, given a set of choices, the act we should choose is that which produces the best results for the greatest number affected by that choice" (Mosser, 1.6). These immigrants...
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...Ethics | |Jan 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...
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... | |R.L.NARASIMHAN | | Part-time Faculty | BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND SOFT SKILLS Communication is the life blood of social as well as corporate world. We exist because we communicate. Even our silence communicates a lot. We all have a layman’s idea of what communication is , but let us try to understand the concept fully so that we can use it effectively. Communication is the process by which we exchange meanings , facts , ideas ,opinions or emotions with other people. It is an essential condition of our existence and the most important activity of ours. The word communication has been derived from Latin word “ communicare/communis’ that means to ‘share’ or ‘participate’ . Everybody knows that most of the time , through speech or writing or any other means like exchange of a common set of symbols , we are sharing information with other human beings. It is , therefore , first and foremost a social activity. Man as a social animal has to communicate. Communication is an exchange of facts , ideas , opinions or...
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...An objective moral statement is a statement that has a definite truth-value; they are not subjective, even if you are not aware of whether or not a statement is true or false the fact of the matter is it is either one or the other. This is a cognitivist view, although there are many branches of cognitivism they all have one thing in common, they believe that moral statements express a genuine belief. Moral Realism is a cognitivist theory, they believe that all moral statements have a truth value and there are moral facts which determine that truth-value. Moral Realism is not to be confused with Universalism (the theory that there are absolute values) because a moral realist does not believe that a particular moral judgement has to apply to all situations. For example one could say objectively ‘abortion is wrong’ but in certain situations it is morally acceptable or right. So abortion could be viewed as wrong after a careless pregnancy where a man and woman do not use protection to prevent it, but still be viewed as an acceptable option for a rape victim who becomes pregnant. A moral realist would argue that this was a moral fact. However an opposing view to moral realism is the non-cognitivist view, Emotivism. Emotivists believe that when you are expressing a moral statement you are merely expressing an emotional response, this is different to expressing an emotional opinion. An opinion can either be true or false whereas an expression of emotion cannot be. For example, if I...
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...one form of conveying a public message. As described by the Cambridge Dictionary, graffiti are "writings or drawings made on surfaces in public places", this kind of artwork first began to display some sort of self-expression or story. Banksy, a British street artist, conveys his messages through the same manner of powerful artwork like graffiti. Whenever a message is purposely trying to be conveyed, there must be elements included like the rhetorical triangles of ethos, pathos, logos as well as the audience, purpose, and context. Furthermore, the author of the message will also have to convey the aspect of Master Class. In respect to this particular artwork by Banksy, the message...
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...that were inextricably tied to intense emotion, the Stoics believed themselves to approach the wisdom of the sage and achieve a life more in accordance with nature (Esler). Letters of consolation further exemplify the Stoics’ dedication to the rejection of impassioned emotion. When writing to Titius in the wake of his sons deaths, rather than expressing a sense of understanding for the man’s loss, Cicero implores Titius to cease his mourning as engaging in such behavior would undermine the virtue of moderation as well as question his status as a man (Wilcox). Cicero does not do so to bluntly dominate Titius in a time of weakness. Cicero’s actions, instead, display his commitment to a genuine belief in emotional restraint and that intense...
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...There have been four serious financial crises and countless more corporate scandals with global implications in just the last decade. All of them driven by greed and corruption, all of them led by dynamic, charismatic business leaders who initially showed fantastic promise, innovation and financial leadership. And it seems with the most recent of these crises, many of the key players in the 2008 global recession have not only not been punished, but are still in the same positions of power and able to continue their transgressions. Here are some interesting highlights of the last decade: Enron scandal (2001): Andrew Fastow the CFO of Enron along with Kenneth Lay the Chairman and Jeffrey Skilling the CEO develop an offbalancesheet mark to market fraud that loses $11 billion and bankrupts Enron. It is the largest bankruptcy reorganization in US history at the time. They are charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, false statements, insider trading and money laundering. Fastow serves 6 years in prison, Lay passes away before sentencing and Skilling is sentenced to 24 years in prison. WorldCom scandal (2005): Bernard Ebbers the CEO of WorldCom loses $100 billion of shareholder value in the largest accounting scandal in US history (until Madoff). Ebbers is charged with securities fraud and conspiracy and is serving 25 years in prison. Bernard Madoff (2008): Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC heads a $50 billion ponzi scheme, the largest in history, and is charged with securities fraud...
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...Priorities 6 Students Ethical Dilemmas 6 Conclusion 8 Bibliography 9 Appendix 10 Introduction Ethics is becoming an organizational and social priority. Having an ethical person in community means the society has a good citizen at home, at work and in the university. As the ethics is very important concept in modern business the Georgian-American University spread the awareness of the ethics in their courses, in order to make their students aware of the benefit of the ethics and how it will influence their future business occupations. But before ethics effect the students business life it effects students personal life how they use ethics and morality every day. The purpose of this report is to present how ethical are students of Georgina-American University (GAU) , what ethical dilemmas and decisions they face and what are their values and priorities. In preparing this report we surveyed 20 students of Business School, from which 10 were women and 10 where men and we also asked them to make some comments about their decisions. What is Ethics? The field of ethics (or moral philosophy) involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior. Philosophers today usually divide ethical theories into three general subject areas: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Metaethics investigates where our ethical principles come from, and what they mean. Are they merely social inventions? Do they involve more than expressions of our individual...
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...continued to improve dominate. Most notably Deep Fritz the desktop chess program beating Vladimir Kramnik.[2] Just 2 years ago IBM developed “Watson” a computer that played Jeopardy and beat former winner Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.[3] With A.I. Improving the question of how intelligent machines should be used to interact with humans becomes more and more relevant. In what ways can A.I. be used to interact with people and what moral implications exist? 2 A.I. IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR Intelligent machines are already being used by many private companies. These are in the forms of autopilot, data mining, facial recognition, etc. Those are not form of A.I. that humans interact with. There some modern uses of A.I. Humans interact with such as automated systems and there will be more as technologies develop. Something else that will come along with the development of artificial intelligence is robots as domestic helpers. And both of these will bring with them many ethical questions to consider. 2.1 DIGITAL DIVIDE Great as it is, technology has left a great gap between people. Those who have access to it are more productive and become more knowledgeable and those who don't are left behind. Jared Diamond in his book “Guns Germs and Steel” talks about how the technological divide between nations began. Diamond names numerous reason. However the area he seems to give...
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...Eaton July, 2003 Throughout history the unspoken but highly evocative language of music has exerted powerful influences on individuals and societies alike. Felix Mendelssohn once remarked that music is more specific about what it expresses than words written about those expressions could ever be. That music has the power to express, convey and illicit powerful emotions is without question, however the issue of music's moral and ethical power, and how that power affects individuals and societies, is one that receives too little attention in our post-modern world. Ancient cultures held strong beliefs in the moral and ethical power of music and as such it was imperative for artists within those cultures to exercise a certain moral and ethical responsibility in their creative endeavors. As a professional musician for over thirty years I concur with that premise and it is primarily from the axiological, rather than a theoretical or aesthetic viewpoint that I approach this discourse. The responsibility of artists to the social environment in which they live and work is something that I have always had strong sentiments. As we now find ourselves beginning a new millennium, questions with regards to music's origins, its spiritual, religious and mystical properties, its moral and ethical power, its transcendent qualities, the role of the arts and artists and the importance of art in general, and music in particular, are questions that I believe any thinking, caring, probing musician should...
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