Normative ethics

Ethical decisions may not always be the right decision according to law but they can be right according to the circumstances. Ethics is a set of moral principles, especially ones relating to or affirming a specified group, field, or form of conduct. We are all faced with ethical decisions in our life at some point. We have to determine whether or not the choices we make are worth the compromise of our values. At the beginning of every priests career they take a vow of obedience, celibacy, and…

Texts clearly in opposition of a single group because of the actions of some of its parts are commonplace throughout history. Often, in times where a single group finds itself attacked or oppressed it can be easy to pin the blame on the entirety of a single group pinned as “the cause,” this is seen especially so in many cases where a minority group is struggling to achieve equality, like the speech Chicano Nationalism: Fighting for La Raza by Rhodolfo “Corky” Gonzales. However the blame for…

all choral strains, according to the mind of the judges; and not allowing them to indulge, except in some few matters, their individual pleasures and fancies” (Plato 210). A form of syndicate censorship, all for the purpose of keeping in control the ethics of those living in Plato’s utopia. From historic examples of supreme autocratic rule, we know this would never work, but it is the mere…

In May 2013, Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the NSA (National Security Administration), leaked to the media extensive information about a global surveillance program, called PRISM. This program collected communicate data on US citizens and foreign leaders from majority internet companies. Mr. Snowden, who had been granted residency in Russia, faced charge with espionage over his actions. This incident had generated heated discussion. Some people thought he was a hero. He showed great…

The Useless Brute Historically, States have used torture for everything from fear-mongering to legal punishments. In the modern United States, debate on the usage of torture by the State has focused on the morality of using torture to extract information, generally from terrorists or suspected terrorists held in US, or allied, custody. However, there are no realistic scenarios in which the application of torture against prisoners of the United States is ethically permissible. One of the more…

John F. Kennedy once said, “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” Our society is driven on the concept of proving who we are based on our material possessions, but ironically we just want the same thing as everyone else. We buy materialistic possessions because we want to prove that we are better than the next guy, but then we proceed to buy the same things as everyone else because we think that in order to beat them, we have to be them. “The Semplica-Girl Diaries”…

to be hired and advance within the company. The company pension is modest, but a retiree can survive on it.” To determine the most ethically sound choice, one may use the theories of Utilitarianism, Natural Law, Kant’s Moral Theory, Virtue Ethics, Care Ethics, and Symphonology.…

Examining the effects of DLC on the video-game industry from the approach of Kant’s Categorical Imperative yields a slightly different conclusion. Kant’s Categorical Imperative states that one should act only on rules that they would be willing to see everyone follow, treat every human as an end and not a means to the end, and consider every rational being as a maker of universal law. Based on this approach, the effects of DLC are mixed. The more traditional approach to DLC, where it is…

Professional Ethical Dilemma: Transparency in the Workplace I got my first job working at a grocery store when I was sixteen and I worked there, sometimes part time and sometimes full, for almost seven years. This is was my introduction into the working word and my education on how to be a professional throughout many formative years of my life. However, it was extremely different from my current working environment as a computer programmer for the State of Michigan, and left me completely naïve…

In many different situations, an action must be decided on. Mill and Kant each present two major theories as to how this decision is reached and how it can be judged as morally right or wrong. In the given predicament of Rescue I and Rescue II, each philosopher would argue for a different ethical approach based on the fundamental principles of their individual theories components of their theories. John Stuart Mills is famous for his views on utilitarianism. His view is revised from his…