Categorical imperative

If one is honest, they are to be free of deceit and untruthfulness; sincere. The quality of being honest is honesty. Although characters in The Great Gatsby are quite sincere, they fall short in the possession of honesty. The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which depicts how American life was during the Roaring Twenties. The narrator of the novel is Nick Carraway, a former soldier whom is now selling bonds in New York. This novel became significant because it has given a…

According to Nicholas Walter (1997), humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance grounded in the belief of the importance of the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and relies on critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition. Furthermore, the British Humanist Association acknowledges humanism as grounded in the belief that the life we humans live is the only life that we have, that the universe is a natural…

In his essay “Moral Luck, Self-cultivation, and Responsibility: The Confucian Conception of Free Will and Determinism,” Kyung-Sig Hwang of Seoul National University seeks to demonstrate from a practical stance why Confucianism fits best with a compatibilist view on free will and then, by analyzing this conclusion from a theoretical stance, argue that a deterministic view could also be accepted. He begins by discussing moral luck and responsibility, which segues into the problems with both a…

George Moore was a British philosopher who primarily studied ethics, epistemology and metaphysics. He devised a remarkable paradox: Let’s suppose it is raining outside but you do not believe that it is raining, and you strongly commit to saying and believing that it is not raining. This could come across to some as an absurd or nonsensical thing to stress, but it could still be true. It could be raining outside, but you are entirely unaware of the current state of the weather. It can’t be…

Morality is often revered important and inviolable because people generally assume morality is grounded in something transcendental such as tradition, God, or reason. In On the Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche critiques the value of moral judgments through a genealogical method that examines the origins and meanings of different moral concepts. In the first essay, Nietzsche distinguishes between “master morality” and “slave morality”; master morality was enforced by the masters who were powerful,…

In Miller’s, Bhagavad Gita, Krishna shows that any action performed must be without the mindset of having an attachment or want in order to be able to see the fruits. The Bhagavad-Gita shows its audience that they should ignore the end fruits and just carry on with their endeavors with disregard to the end result. In contrast to the Gita, the Tao Te Ching represents a teaching of inaction to reach one’s ultimate form of a complete state of mind. The Bhagavad-Gita is able to provide insight into…

Singer doesn’t believe in absolute, unconditional true moral rules. He strongly rejects a morality based on absolute rules because he believes moral goal is more important than a moral rule. He thinks actions are adjustable according to the situation and in the end depends on what action is providing the most good. For example, Nazi Germany came to your door searching for Jew family. So you can lie to them to save innocent life. Though your action is based on lie but more important you have…

Buchanan argues against that enhancement is always wrong because it will change or destroy human nature by stating “I will argue that there is nothing wrong, per se, with altering human nature” (Buchanan, 142). Buchanan believes it will neither change nor destroy human nature by containing the “bad as well as good characteristics and there is no reason to believe that in every case eliminating some of the bad characteristics would so imperil the good ones” (Buchanan, 142). Therefore, altering…

I do not find that Hochswender persuaded me to believe that he is not “a bad person” (as cited in Muller and Wiener, 2015), since he drives an SUV. It appears that he has a strong argument. However, the ethical reasoning is faulty. The argument felt more like an emotional appeal because he talks about wanting his 9 year-old to be safe and about his family responsibilities. I can identify with these responsibilities. This argument tugs at my emotions, because it makes me think of my son. Even…

Summary of Adam Grant Adam Grant’s article, “Does Trying to Be Happy Make Us Unhappy,” discusses finding happiness. Grant’s thesis indicates that, trying to be happy will not make us happy. He evaluates an individual case by applying different happiness related theories. At the beginning, Adam Grant points out that searching out for happiness is not a correct way of persuading happiness. Instead, it will block you from finding true pleasures. Grant asserts that happiness is not measured in its…