Societal values, norms and mores have always been an influencing factor when defining crime and deviancy. However, the definitions of certain crimes have stayed more or less constant. For example, murder has always been considered unlawful and wrong but in the late 20th century, certain types of murder that were once considered justifiable, gained inexcusable status. The question is why? What had changed?…
Liniency Liniency, or if you will, common sense. There is right, there is wrong. In an ordered society you must have rules and regulations, because your view of what is right might, in my view, be wrong.…
The Ring of Gyges, introduced in Book II of Plato’s The Republic by Glaucon, is a magical artifact that enables the bearer to turn themselves invisible at will. While not founded in historical fact; the scenario is rather a thought experiment used to explore the fundamental nature of human morality when the bearer faces no retribution for their actions. Glaucon alleges that the temptation provided by the ring is irresistible by any man, and that without consequences the bearer would disregard morality in favour of his own self-gain. However, this argument is not without criticism: Socrates provides his own counterargument in which he uses the ideal of rationality as a means to avoid the temptation of Gyges’ ring. Furthermore, Glaucon ignores the role of environment, upbringing, and circumstance in his thought experiment ― without which no one is inherently malicious.…
Stalin, also known as the man of steel, was known as a god among his people and still can remembered as one today. However, were his views on the world and racial profiling correct? Think about it, Stalin killed well over 53 million based on religion, race, and stupidity. Many would argue that Stalin was an evil man, but I disagree. Stalin stepped up to the plate to what he had to.…
Before Rachels stated his stand regarding the cultural judgment of the “excision” he stated that we, all of the cultures should have at least some of our values or moral codes that each culture has in common. Rachels gives the example of Murder and lying to make his point that we all have some moral codes or virtues that are universal by stating “…there are some moral rules that all societies must have in common, because those rules are necessary for society to exist. The rules against lying and murder are two examples. And in fact, we do find these rules in force in all viable cultures. Cultures may differ in what they regard as legitimate exceptions to the rules, but this disagreement exists against a background of agreement on the larger…
Conscience saves Souls Man makes mistakes, man-made law might be a product of mistakes. Disobey the law when your conscience tells you the law is unjust and against humanity. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. writes, “an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law” (King). Authorities always create the unjust law and cover them with beautiful lies to fake them as just laws, then trick the people to obey them.…
Trying to decide whether I am an objectivist or a relativist was a tough decision. Do I think people follow the same set or ethical codes and morals? Or do I believe that people’s morals and ethical codes depend on the individual person. After thinking about the both of those, I have decided that I am a combination of both an objectivist and a relativist, but I lean a little more towards the relativist side. A relativist is someone who has their own morals and ethics based on how they feel.…
Is the story, “A Horseman in the Sky”, of a young man’s decision to join the union military, which eventually lead him to a precarious circumstance; which he found himself confronted with an ethical and moral battle. A young Virginian man confronted his father with the news that he would be joining a military regiment in the state of Grafton, with this news the father, reluctantly, accepted the boys decision. The father, calling his son a traitor to the state of Virginia, added, “Should we both live to the end of the war, we will speak further into the matter” (pp. 98). The son departed soon after, and due to the broad knowledge of the landscape of Virginia soon found himself highly praised in his new military role fighting against the very state in which he resided. While resting following an extensive journey, the sentinel was awoken with an unsettling certainty; in an interesting twist of fate the…
The interesting aspect of morality is how universally unbiased it is supposed to be, but yet, is still met with a debate towards what is morally correct and morally wrong. While morality is supposed to be objective, there is a subjectivity to whom those morals apply to and to whom they benefit or harm. In Chelsea Schein and Kurt Gray’s "The Theory of Dyadic Morality: Reinventing Moral Judgment by Redefining Harm,” they discussed the evolution of morality and how difficult it is to establish a clear answer on what morality is. Schein and Gray wrote, “[one] definition of moral judgment is ‘evaluations (good vs. bad) of the actions or character of a person that are made with respect to a set of virtues held to be obligatory by a culture or subculture’ (Haidt, 2001, p. 817)” (Schein and Gray 35).…
I now think that it has a lot to do with up bringing and education. People value things and make choices based on what they know. Education is key to building a population with a holistically understood moral system that correlates with ethics, in my opinion. But my opinion is yet again based on my morals and thus may or may not be universally excepted as true and…
Today with so many different cultures and views of society there is a definite different standards of morality. Originally the first laws came about with the Code of Hammurabi which basically stated an eye for and eye. Today we still practice this with the death penalty. Although some would argue this is not just. Is it morally right to murder a murderer?…
Thesis: In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston resists the Party’s degradation of basic human rights through his intimate relationship with Julia in an effort to maintain his individuality. His example inspires people today to find ways to preserve their civil liberties when faced with oppression. Party’s degradation of basic human rights Winston’s resistance to the Party’s dehumanization through his intimate relationship with Julia Conclusion: Orwell’s call for all people to fight for the preservation of their civil liberties Outline: The Inner Party ruthlessly denies its citizens their basic human rights to individually interpret the world, have private lives, and be informed of the truth.…
For centuries, philosophers have applied sets of normative principles in effort to distinguish if an action is morally right or wrong. The purpose of normative ethics is to help guide society on how humans ought to act. These theories provide justifiable and reliable outcomes to determine if an action is moral or immoral. Two principles that play a significant role in normative ethics are consequentialism and Kantianism. When faced with a moral dilemma, these theories may agree or conflict with one another.…
Laws are regulations established by authorities, such as the government and are enforced by the police to make sure that the laws are upheld. Laws are enforced to preserve safety, supervise actions of individuals and work for the better good of society. Without the laws, chaos would spread across the world. However, there are times when each and every one of us finds a law to be unjust and would love to see that law change. Throughout the history of mankind, civil disobedience hasn’t been very uncommon.…
Relativism vs. Objectivism There are two different theories dealing with morality, what is right or wrong, and what is good or bad. The theories discussed will be, ethical relativism and ethical objectivism. Ethical relativism is defined as having no absolute stance on a position; there is no right or wrong. Ethical objectivism which claims that some moral rules really are correct. What would it mean for ethics if there were no absolutes?…