It's situations such as this that makes me not believe in legal obligation to the extent which Socrates does where it's almost absolute. I do agree with him that one should obey the laws of the land that governs them, but only to an extent. While the law may have been beneficial to you throughout your entire life and got you to where you are today, if it were to wrong you, you should be able to defend yourself. Even though I do share the same belief about the soul being more important than the body and it continuing to exist after death, I don't believe all unjust acts ruin the
According to hard determinism we are not free in the sense required for moral responsibility, and therefore, what happens cannot be affected by choices that are free in the sense. But what happens may nevertheless be caused by the decisions we chose and the choices we make. A reaction to hard determinism is that if it were true, we would have no reason to attempt to accomplish anything, to try and improve our lives because our decisions and choices would make no difference. If everything we do is pre determined then why try hard to achieve anything, if you are meant to do a certain something, it will happen, it is already determined for you, so the hard determinist would say. In the hard determinist’s judgement, this feeling of freedom is an illusion.
Meta ethics tries to make sense of the terms and concepts used in ethical theories such as Utilitarianism and Natural Law. Some people believe that ethical language is extremely meaningful as they argue it is essential to be able to define terms such as “good” and “bad” before we can even begin to discuss ethical theories. However others disagree with this and argue that moral statements are subjective so are meaningless, as they cannot be described as either true or false. Those who hold cognitive theories about ethical language would argue that ethical statements are not meaningless as they are about facts, and can therefore be proved true or false. Ethical Naturalism is a cognitive theory of meta ethics which holds the belief that
Furthermore, if God had said the opposite to what He did say then the things that would have been good is now bad. This makes the moral codes seem subjective. For some philosophers, morality cannot depend on authority alone. However, there are also clear problems. If humans obey God’s moral commands simply because they fear punishment, they are acting in a moral fashion purely to serve God rather than morally.
Dewey believes we consider these more as abilities that exist far from our impulsive desires. So in short, bad habits are acts that make us feel shameful, good habits are admirable. John Dewey mentions though out his writing on habits and will WE are our habit. Now even though I do not entirely comprehend all the points he makes through out the writing, I do know that he mentions several times that to fix or undo our bad habits we must replace with an equally energizing habit that is of goodness. Also to go along with that, you must be able to have more than solely will power to defy a habit.
I learn from past mistakes as well as building on past successes. I value other people’s rights and expect them to maintain their responsibilities as much as I do. However, I would never ask someone to do something I would not do. For example, I would not ask someone to give me the answers to a test because I would not do that myself. My ethical blind spot is my belief that motive justifies the method or overconfidence in the process.
This brings one to the conclusion that it is impossible to assume there is one shared morality because different opinions exist. One side of the spectrum might view prostitution beneficial to the City of Pooh, while the other may find it immoral or criminal. Hence, society is not threatened by the diversity of opinions; it is threatened when those opinions do not leave room for change and the exchange of ideas. The opinions of the opposition; however, do not adequately support their stance on criminalizing prostitution because it lacks reason and conducive evidence. Based on the political theories of John Stewart Mill, John Locke, and Patrick Devlin, the City of Pooh should approve the proposal to legalize prostitution.
Bartleby, although seeming simple actually very carefully speaks this phrase. Bartleby in no way completely refuses to do the work presented to him but given the choice of doing it or not he “prefers” not to. If Bartleby were to simply accept the work given to him then he would be another victim to the system but by preferring to not accept the work he is expressing his right to make choices. Bartleby’s ability to make his own choices makes him an outcast of the system, as the system is what usually makes choices for the people and not the other way around. As people we are expected to abide by the choices given to us by the system and Bartleby’s refusal to do so is what baffles the
They all have founders, and they all try to set a standard of what is most important, and they try to keep that in perspective as the most important value. Virtue Theory is a term for theories that puts emphasis in a man’s virtuous character in moral philosophy. This is different from doing good acts to bring about good consequences. Virtue ethics is the normative theory that the promotion f one’s own good is in accordance with morality. The problem with this definition or the definition of virtue is it is not a set definition until man sets what is right and wrong or what is ethical.
His strongest argument is that if he did do wrong he did so unknowingly and therefore should not be punished. He puts this defense in the form of an argument. It went as