View source for Case Studies/Contemporary Moral Problem

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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: James Rachels: Egoism and Moral Skepticism

What I expect to learn:

    * To learn egoism is.
    * To understand what egoism is.
    * To learn and understand ideas about morality


Quote:

“The majority of mankind is grossly deceived about what is, or ought to be, the case, where morals are concerned.”


Review:

Well in the story Gyges used the ring to take over the Royal Palace wherein he seduced the Queen and murdered the King. There are two skeptical views: psychological egoism and ethical egoism.  In psychological egoism, it is stated that all men are selfish in everything that they do and men are acting for the benefit of other people this way they will be motivated by the belief that this way they can use it for their own advantage. The ethical egoism is a normative view about how men ought to act. I guess it will depend on the person’s motives in his life or in the decisions he/she will make.

What is psychological egoism anyway? Psychological egoism is the view that all men are selfish in everything that they do and that the only motive from which anyone ever acts is self-interest. We often base it on our self-interests. We become selfish if we want to do things that are only for our own benefit and do not care on other people’s feelings.

What I have learned:

    * I learned that psychological egoism and ethical egoism are different.
    * We must be wise in terms of decision making and every decision we make is based on our own preferences.
    * I learned about egoism and how it affects our lives.

Integrative Questions:

What is egoism?
What was the legend of gyges?
Should we think before we decide?
What/how does it take to be selfish?


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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: John Arthur: Religion, Morality, and Conscience


What I expect to learn:

    * To understand the effects of these three to us.
    * To understand more about morality
    * The different concept and views of people about religion, moral and conscience

Quote:

“..Concepts of justice and fairness would also be foreign to these people.”

Review:

Well basically this chapter is all about these words; Morality, religion and conscience.. This chapter is divided into 4 parts: Morality and religion, Religious motivation and guidance, the divine command theory and Morality is social. The divine command theory focuses on the importance of religion. . For me it is right that GOD is the center/creator of life. GOD is the one who make anything possible and that is the reason why we are living and all of these things around us. In John Arthur’s point of view, morality does not depend on religion. I agree that morality does not depend on religious beliefs.  Not everyone believes to only one God, there are various religions that different people worship to. Although we have different religions, our morality is not affected by it. We do not base our actions on our religious beliefs. Morality is social. morality  refers to “personal or cultural values, codes of conduct or social mores that distinguish between right and wrong in the human society. Describing morality in this way is not making a claim about what is objectively right or wrong, but only referring to what is considered right or wrong by people.” -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality.

For me not everyone believes to one GOD, there are religions that they worship to different kind of Gods, according to their religion. Although we have different religions, our morality is not affected by it.

What I have learned:

    * Morality is not depends on religion.
    * Morality can influence religion
    * People must know what is it right or wrong and not just doing good stuffs because of their religion and beliefs

Integrative Questions:

What is morality?
Does morality affects religion?
Does religion affects morality?
Do you think that if people know what the difference between good and bad are, do you think we still need religion?


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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: Friedrich Nietzsche: Master and Slave Morality


What I expect to learn:

    * To understand master morality
    * To Understand slave morality
    * To know what the connection and differences between master and slave morality

Quote:

“.. He who has not a hard heart when young , will never have one”

Review:

Friedrich Nietzsche state about that there were two fundamental types of morality, Master morality and slave morality. A particular morality is separated from the formation of a particular culture while master-slave morality provides the basis of all Western thought.

According to Friedrich Nietzsche it is a good practice for superior people to practice their powers for the society to be healthy. Master morality is emphasizes power, strength, egoism and freedom. There are still rules that must be followed in order for this to be successful. Friedrich Nietzsche said that slave morality is which that calls for weakness, submission, sympathy and love. Person can only be either a master or the slave. Master morality originates from the strong while slave morality originates from the weak. Slave morality is the opposite of master morality. Basically slave morality is the one who always look down for. Being on the bottom of those who are more elite. Master morality is basically the one who’s on top.

What I have learned:

    * I learned that master and slavery morality have a relation.
    * I learned that master morality is superior than slave morality
    * Master and slave morality has a advantage and disadvantages

Integrative Questions:

What is master morality?
What is slave morality?
What morality do you want to be in? Master or slavery


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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: Trying out one’s new sword: Mary Midgley

What I expect to learn:

    * To understand what are the concepts and ideas of Mary Midgley
    * To understand about moral isolationism
    * To understand  what does this topic affect my life

Quote:

“..The world is sharply divided into separate societies, sealed units, each with its own system of thought.”

Review:

In this chapter Mary Midgley focus on isolationism. Isolationism “is a foreign policy which combines a non-interventionist military policy and a political policy of economic nationalism (protectionism). In other words, it asserts both of the following:

1. Non-interventionism – Political rulers should avoid entangling alliances with other nations and avoid all wars not related to direct territorial self-defense.

2. Protectionism – There should be legal barriers to control trade and cultural exchange with people in other states.”-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolationism

He said that moral isolationism is a culture view that we cannot criticize.  He use the Japanese culture and their samurai sword as an example of morality and honor because samurai sword has a lot of meaning for Japanese it symbolizes honor and strength of a samurai. Samurai sword has been tested and tried by the blacksmith before it is given to a samurai, If that samurai sword fail or doesn’t works, then the samurai will ruin his ancestors and will affect his honor in their culture. Mary Midgley focuses on this example because moral isolationism means we cannot criticize ones culture that we do not understand because we doesn’t have any idea on what or where are the roots of their culture came from. We must respect one’s culture and understand clearly about it.

Most of the time we usually criticize one’s culture for example if we see a Chinese restaurant somewhere in the street and in front of the door of Chinese restaurant there’s a cup of rice and some goofy looking cat display on the cashier we often think that this is only their silly decoration but we do not know that this is all about to give them a luck for their business and that is a part of their culture. We must open our mind and ideas on what people  do because we really do not know anything about them and about their culture

What I have learned:

    * I learned that culture is about influences and about their past and beliefs
    * I learned not to judge anyone by their culture
    * Culture is important and we must keep it and treasure it time by time because it is how we formed us by being one’s race/ethnicity.

Integrative Questions:

Do you think culture is important?
What is isolationism?
Are you proud of your culture?


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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism


What I expect to learn:

    * To understand the meaning of utilitarianism
    * To  know what are the views and ideas of John Stuart Mill
    * To know how to achieve one’s happiness

Quote:

“…. Life has no higher end than pleasure”

Review:

In this chapter John Stuart Mill discussing about utilitarianism. Utilitarianism “is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its utility in providing happiness or pleasure as summed among all sentient beings. It is thus a form of consequential, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome.

Utilitarianism is often described by the phrase “the greatest good for the greatest number of people”, and is also known as “the greatest happiness principle”. Utility, the good to be maximized, has been defined by various thinkers as happiness or pleasure (versus suffering or pain), although preference utilitarian define it as the satisfaction of preferences. It may be described as a life stance, with happiness or pleasure being of ultimate importance”-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism

Utilitarian is an ethic in which happiness of the majority of the people in society. Happiness form when you do something right or what you wanted to do and unhappiness form when there is a pain or something you don’t want that to happen. “Pleasure” is one thing that can make a form of happiness, if you really want something then you must strive anything just to get that. “Happiness forms the utilitarian standard of what is right in conduct is not the agent’s own happiness but of al concerned. The utilitarian doctrine is about happiness that it is desirable and the only thing desirable as an end”. “The Greatest Happiness Principle holds that actions are right in proportions as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.”

What I have learned:

    * I learned that pleasure is part of happiness
    * I learned that happiness is one of the most important needs of our life
    * We should know the importance of interacting with people and socializing

Integrative Questions:

Do you think happiness occur when you do something you don’t want to do?
Do you think happiness will exist if you are the only person living in this world?
What are your different kinds of pleasure?


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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: The Debate over Utilitarianism: James Rachels


What I expect to learn:

    * To know what are the views and ideas of James Rachels
    * To understand what was this debate all about
    * To understand what were the perception of the people on this debate

Quote:

” ..Right actions are, simply, those that have the best consequences.”

Review:

In this chapter its all about the debate over utilitarianism. James Rachels believe that happiness is not what we really need since it is right for us to feel to be happy. James Rachels argues that it is not only our happiness need to be considered. What about happiness of other people. Since we are living as individual we have different point/perception of views. For example, I want to be with this girl and that is my happiness since I love her so much and this girl that I like doesn’t want to be with me. If I force her to be with me then she will be unhappy since she do not love me.. That is the example of scenario on what James Rachels was arguing all about. We must also think about other people happiness and think of the things on what you are doing and what will be the effect if you do so. I think everyone deserve to have their happiness. We all want to be happy anyway.  If you think your happiness will result of unhappiness to others and then you must make a decision. We human have a knowledge to know what is right or wrong, You don’t have to be selfish just to get yourself a happiness.

What I have learned:

    * I learned that we must think the happiness of someone else as well
    * I learned that there were different views about utilitarianism
    * I learned to back down for happiness of others

Integrative Questions:

What do you think of the debate?
Do you think you will be happy if you do something that other person will be unhappy about it
Do you want to be unhappy for the sake of happiness of the others?


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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: The Categorical Imperative: Immanuel Kant

What I expect to learn:

    * To know what were the views and concept of Immanuel kant
    * To understand what is Categorical Imperative
    * To know what are the effects of it

Quote:

“A good will is good through its willingly done- that is good in itself”

Review:

In this chapter Immanuel Kant explained about categorical imperative. Categorical Imperative according to wikipedia “is the central philosophical concept in the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant, as well as modern deontological ethics. Introduced in Kant’s (“Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals”), it may be defined as the standard of rationality from which all moral requirements derive.

According to Kant, human beings occupy a special place in creation, and morality can be summed up in one ultimate commandment of reason, or imperative, from which all duties and obligations derive. He defined an imperative as any proposition that declares a certain action (or inaction) to be necessary. A hypothetical imperative compels action in a given circumstance: if I wish to quench my thirst, I must drink something. A categorical imperative, on the other hand, denotes an absolute, unconditional requirement that asserts its authority in all circumstances, both required and justified as an end in itself. It is best known in its first formulation:”

“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative “Immanuel Kant explained the difference between psychological imperative and categorical imperative,  a person knows what are the things contain in an action he/she is going to do is categorical imperative and if a person doesn’t know the will contains until a condition is given is psychological imperative.” “According to Kant, the gifts of nature can also be extremely bad and hurtful when the will of our actions are not good” this action does not show a good will but rather it is an action of selfishness. “Categorical Imperative according to the universal law it was being robbed the will of every inducement that arises for it as a consequence of obeying a particular law and nothing is being left but the conformity of actions and must serve the will as its principle. Included in this part of the discussion about hypothetical imperative and categorical imperative, the hypothetical imperative is about not knowing a topic and its content beforehand while the categorical imperative is you immediately know what the content of each topic.” According to Immanuel Kant good will is something that you find it right and therefore leading to happiness since you know that what you are doing is right.

What I have learned:

    * I learned that we should do the right thing more than the good will
    * I learned that duty and good will are different
    * I learned that power should be use properly

Integrative Questions:

What are your good wills?
What are your duties?
Do you think your duty is a moral thing?


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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: Happiness and Virtue: Aristotle

What I expect to learn:

    * To understand about happiness and virtue
    * To know what are the difference and connection of happiness and virtue
    * To know the views and ideas of Aristotle about happiness and virtue

Quote:

“…happiness is not pleasure, honor, or wealth, but an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue.”

Review:

In this chapter Aristotle state that there are three prominent types of life and these are enjoyment life, political life and contemplative life. “Aristotle believed virtues led to happiness. The happiness that Aristotle spoke of was not necessarily the same that we would think of today. Today our view of happiness tends to be hedonic. We want to feel good immediately and tend not to think too far ahead. So we see a night out or a pleasant activity as a route to happiness” -http://coachingtohappiness.com/aristotle-virtues-happiness.html. Happiness is about what you want to do. According to Aristotle happiness is the best and the most pleasant thing in the world. If we really want happiness we can make it by doing something you really want and make the most out of it. Aristotle also said that virtue is related and also a part of happiness. Virtue is is moral excellence. A virtue is a character trait or quality valued as being always good in and of itself.-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue

Aristotle thought that practice of virtue would result to happiness. He disagreed with Socrates, Socrates believe that knowledge would automatically lead to right action. “Aristotle argued that the greatest misdeed was to know the right course, but fail to do it.”[ref] . Virtue has two kinds it is intellectual and moral.

I agree with Aristotle that happiness and virtue will be depending on us humans. It depends on us whether we like what we are doing or happy about what is happening. We human like to be happy because we feel good when we feel happy. That is why we like to be happy and do happy things whether it is a good or a bad thing.

What I have learned:

    * Relevance between happiness and virtue
    * I learned that there are two types of virtue
    * Happiness can be achieve by doing something you like and making the most out of it

Integrative Questions:

What are the two kinds of virtue?
How can we make our happiness?
What make a person happy?


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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: The Nature and Value of Rights: Joel Feinberg


What I expect to learn:

    * To understand human rights
    * To understand the moral value
    * To understand Joel Fienberg views and ideas

Quote:

“They only party wronged by the sovereign’s mistreatment of his subjects was God.”

Review:

Joel Feinberg defined the nature and value of rights. He used the “Nowheresville” in pointing out the importance of rights. Nowheresville is like our world except that human being has no rights. He also mentioned in this chapter what is called “moral worth” by Immanuel Kant. A person can act with supreme kind of worth or moral worth if with a duty and duty comes with rights. So Basically, Nowheresville is impossible. Whatever action people do has rights and duties with it so that it will become morally worth. Rights are important so that people can express their freedom and duties are also important so that people will know their limitations and responsibilities.

According to Wikipedia “Moral Value encompasses a range of approaches to understanding how, why, and to what degree humans should value things, whether the thing is a person, idea, object, or anything else.” He said that rights are important morally in every one of us. Human rights are basically the freedom. It is like living in a world where we don’t have duties and we have the freedom to do whatever we want. For Joel Feinberg, “when a person doesn’t learn how to value their rights then they will not be able to make moral claims.” As human we still need to do our responsibility and duties. Not just because we have to. it is because it is the right for us. For example, As a student we need to do our requirements to pass a certain course. That is our responsibility but we have a freedom not to do it but nothing will happen in our life in the future when we do not follow that duty/responsibility.

What I have learned:

    * I learned that we must know our value and rights
    * All of us has the right to achieve freedom
    * Rights are important to us humans

Integrative Questions:

What are human rights?
What are the nature and value of rights?
Do you need to do your duties and responsibilities?


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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: Taking Right Seriously: Ronald Dworkin


What I expect to learn:

    * To learn about rights
    * To understand more about Ronald dworkin views about rights
    * To know what are the concepts and ideas of Ronald dworkin

Quote:

“..Citizens have a right to free speech; the government may over ride that right when necessary to protect the rights of others…”

Review:

In this chapter Ronald Dworkin state about why people need to take rights seriously. Dworkin said that the freedom of speech of people is wrong for the government to interfere with the exercise of this particular right of people unless this is somehow needed to protect the other rights. Government was the one who give rule for the people because that is their duty for the people. According to Nel Guinpang “One right can affect how the other right is interpreted. We know that legal rights are rights that are obligatory for us people or citizens, we are being controlled by a law in which we must respect.” “It is the people’s right but it must not be conflict to the right that government imposes. Legal rights can be moral depending on the interpretation of the people doing it.” He discussed how the government sees the rights of each and everyone of us and issue concerning whether people/citizen have some moral rights against their government.

My only opinion is that what if the government itself lacks the capacity of taking the responsibility of the citizen. The very good example is the maguindanao massacre. The government has the power to control their citizen and if that power goes into the wrong hand, citizen will be hopeless. We can also say that a legal right is not a moral right if it is good on the perspectives of the ruler or the government. According to MLC, Dworkin also formulates two different models to define the rights of citizens: if the government infringes on a moral right and if the government inflates a right.

What I have learned:

    * I learned that we must take our rights seriously
    * I learned that we must respect others right
    * Our rights is very important to us

Integrative Questions:

What are the examples of right?
Why our right is important?
Why do we need government?


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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: A Theory of Justice: John Rawls

What I expect to learn:

    * To know more about justice
    * To know about john rawls concept and ideas
    * To understand the meaning of equality

Quote:
“All social values are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution of any, or all, of these values is to everyone’s advantage.”

Review:
In this chapter John Rawls state that there are two principles of justice, the first principle is that it involves equal basic liberties. The second principle is the concerns arrangement of social and economic equalities. The first principle is the equal basic liberties and the second principle is the arrangement of social and economic inequalities. Both sides must be equal so that justice will be done. The second principle for me is give and take of people. “Justice is about fairness. To identify the concept of justice, a person should know which principle of justice will be chosen”. Just like theory of justice it depends to the theory of society. The social primary goods are the rights and liberties, power and opportunities, income and wealth. According to Dhesai the article does not promote slavery and we are encouraged to turn our economic condition to improve to exchange with two principles.

What I have learned:

    * I learned the importance of justice
    * I learned about john rawls views and concept about justice
    * Justice is very important for us

Integrative Questions:

Why justice is important?
What are the two principles of john rawls?
Do we need justice?


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Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter: The Need for More than Justice: Annette Baier


What I expect to learn:

    * To understand more about justice
    * To know what justice can do
    * To understand about equality

Quote:

“Women is perceive and construe social reality differently from men…”

Review:

In this chapter Annette Baier argues that justice is perspective by itself is insufficient as moral theory because for her there are inequalities that are happening to some people. Justice gives equality to people an example that was given were the black and women who gained their justice in the society. The two perspectives that Baier mentioned are the justice and care. Justice perspective is where people give importance to the equality of people to gain justice. According to the book, it is unlikely for women to take only the justice perspective while some men are claimed to. According to Dhesai, Annette Baier contradicts the perspective of philosophers like Kant, Rawls, and Gilligan about justice. She claims that justice is not enough as moral theory because it only focuses on inequalities of people. She also points out that the best moral theory with harmonize justice and care. “The difference of each view regarding justice like Rawls he unites value of freedom into his account of justice, while Gilligan call ethics of cares as justice. The care that can be seen to fraternity and sorority but later on change to perspective about moral and social issues ever it is difficult to discuss as one because of justice perspective and care perspective. Later on Annette summarizes about the differences of each perspective.”

Justice is important for each person. Care with justice is like a person committed something that is not acceptable for the society, It doesn’t mean that the person who did something wrong will be treated as a lowlife in the society. That person is still a human and has a right of his own.

What I have learned:

    * Justice is very important
    * People need justice
    * Equality is essential for us

Integrative Questions:

Why do we need equality?
Why do people want justice?
What are the aspects in life that affect justice?




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Adrian Jonathan de Leon