Essays on Ethical Relativism

Relativism can be in the form of empirical or normative and tends to relate to judgments an individual makes regarding a particular phenomenon (Siame 45). It is commonplace to have an observation that the globe consists of varying cultures and this clash on specific moral judgments. On the other hand, Li (151) asserts that cultures are different in many ways, but this does not constitute cultural relativism. Cultural relativists would assert that culture involves unchanging set of societal arrangements. Culture is itself a system that defines how a particular group of people have organized themselves in order to preserve ...

Philosophy Questions

1. Ross’ s Moral Theory is considered to stand between Kant’s strict deontological theory and theological theory of utilitarianism. According to the philosopher, there existed several prima facie duties that people had to hold in respect if they did not contradict one another. In case they conflicted, human’s intuition would help to make the right choice and find the weightiest and the most important duty. Ross stated that any prima facie obligation could be redefined by more important ones. While Kant saw all obligations absolute and exceptionless, Ross allowed maximization of the good as one of the ...

Abstract

Although obliged to cover issues in their entirety, with no distortions made in the process, American media tend to misrepresent the reality, as was the case with the depiction of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime implications for the social welfare possibly for political reasons. The noble cause of saving the international image of the USA formerly allied with the late leader in the wake of the Gaddafi demonization could have been the driving force of misrepresentation of the myth related in part to ethical minorities. The knowledge of non-consequentialism and its principles, whether unconsciously or otherwise, allows readers to perceive ...

Introductory Remarks (problem statement, research questions presentation, thesis)

Non-consequentialism, relativism, and absolutism as philosophies and ethical theories will be central to the research into the nature of media portrayal of different minorities in various states and the way the theories and philosophies shape people’s perception of such representation. Portrayal is often the problem due to it being incomplete, biased, or distorted for a variety of reasons, whether political or otherwise. Besides evidence and opposed attitudes, the project will offer practical recommendations as to how to improve the coverage of different minorities. Thesis statement: non-consequentialism, relativism, and absolutism influence how people perceive the problem of the inadequate ...

Introduction

Practicing business ethics involves three major steps; first, there must be a set of values that are used as a guideline in decision-making in a business environment, second, an understanding of the parties affected by those values and finally deciding on what actions works best for the values (Harry 45). Business ethics enable us to tell what is right and what is wrong in the course of doing business concerning the law. Good values make the society a better place to live. This essay gives a case study on business ethics in four parts. The first part introduces the ...

The first image that comes to mind when thinking about the ethical implications of defense engineering is the first scene in the movie Real Genius, where several men who represent a counsel of defense are sitting around a table watching video clips of a new weapon that is being developed at Caltech University. This was an idea for the end of the 20th century. The movie was filled with ethical questions and moral imperatives that imply the ideas of ethical technology in the military. Science, University Students, and Engineers make a significant contribution to the advancement of defense technology. ...

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(28th March 2016)

Introduction

Generating profits from products made through the use of asbestos is unethical. Organizations have a responsibility to guarantee the safety of employees. Secondly, it is unethical to knowingly expose an employee to a harmful chemical. Employees have a right to a workplace environment that does not lead to safety issues. Recklessness and disregard for the safety of employees mean that corporations are only interested in profits but not the life and safety of employees. Furthermore, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) engage in unethical practice by trying to stop victims from being compensated. My argument is ...

Utilitarianism and Kantianism

Utilitarianism, Virtue ethics and Kantianism are examples of normative ethics. In these theories, there are three components which characterize every action: the consequences of the action, the action itself (which also include the motive of the action), and the agent (the doer). Utilitarianism deals with the consequences of the action. On the other hand, deontological theories (Kantianism and divine command theory) are concerned with motive/action. Virtue ethics, however, is concerned with the doer/agent (Stewart, 2009). Utilitarianism and Kantianism Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is derived from the word utility. In utilitarianism, an action is deemed right only if its outcome is to ...

1. Tell me whether each of the following statements is descriptive or normative, and briefly explain your answer: a. Genetic screening could reveal an individual's tolerance for or susceptibility to chemicals used in the workplace.

First of all, it is important to understand that normative statements explain about how things should be. Conversely, descriptive statements give an opinion about what an individual or persons think about a certain thing or phenomenon. In the case of this statement, it is a normative statement because it explains about how things in workplace should be. The statement advocates the idea that genetic ...

The article ‘Dark Side of Everest Awaits Climbers,’ by Brian Handwerk has its key focus on an ethical dilemma that has to face a climber at some point in the act of climbing the famous Mount Everest. This is the world’s tallest mountain. It is not easy to reach the top of the mountain. At the same time, all climbers who go beyond the height of 8000 meters have to face the difficulty of insufficient oxygen as well as several other health complications. On the other hand, reaching the summit of the Everest marks one of the ...

Since the introduction of computers, human lives have been improved tremendously. Computers and computerized systems have become part of the human lives. They are used in everyday day, in almost all the industries and wings of life. The government and private sectors have endorsed the use of computers and computerized systems in all their operations. The good thing about this is that their works have been made more efficient and faster. Human labor has even been replaced in some industries by the computers and computerized systems. The performance of the employees is even monitored through computerized systems which is ...

Philosophy

If an assumption is made that ethical relativism is true then it is safe to say that the truth of moral judgment is determined by cultural convention. This is because cultural relativism is the backbone as far as subjective moral judgment is concerned. Thus under this premise moral judgment is nothing more than a subset of cultural convention because it is this cultural convention that determines what is acceptable and what is completely unacceptable as far as matters morality are concerned in their entirety as an integral part of mainstream cultural practices and beliefs. Under the premise that moral ...

- In this week's reading, the authors make a claim that public administration, at the level of service providers, is teleological. Explain why it can be argued that public administrators use a teleological approach. Do you agree or disagree? According to the teleological approach, an action is considered ethical on the basis of the consequences of the action, long term effects of the action and if the action promotes the greatest happiness to others . The public administrators can be thought to use a teleological approach in their actions as their decisions are usually made on the basis of the possible consequences ...

Following the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines

Placebos and Ethics Introduction The only thing second in the medical field to successfully treating a patient is doing it ethically. Ethics are supposed to be held in the highest degree by doctors and nurses in order for patients to feel safe and optimistic about the treatment they receive. Treatments, under the Hippocratic Oath and several moral and ethical maxims must be provided in a safe, ethical manner in order for them to be considered justified practices. Examples include delivering chemotherapy to cancer patients, and antibiotics to patients with viruses. Other instances may involve obtaining conscientious permission from the ...

1. Critically examine cultural relativism as an ethical theory. Every individual belongs or associates oneself with a certain culture. There are many different cultures in the world with each having different ethical rules. Cultural relativism in philosophy is the view that morals are culturally determined and there is no better ethical system than the others (Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer, n.d). The question that arises here is whether those cultures have a definite system of morals or not. It is evidently clear that any society has a specified rules and guidelines that determine what is ...

Ethical challenges are common in the workplace for employees on a daily basis. There are plenty of examples of ethics in the world of business but the ethical choices have been made rather difficult in the modern era since the target changes with the progress of society. This is the reason why discussions concerning business ethics in the international workplace at frequent intervals can have a positive impact on the human relations. If the contemporary corporate business ethics and morals in the global workplace are applied to the situation “Credit Suisse admits guilt over tax evasion, fined $2.8 billion” , it ...

Meaning

Ethical relativism is the situation that there is no universally valid or objective moral principle, because every moral judgment is a topic of human opinion. In other words, there are no right or wrong ways apart from what everyone considers to be as right or wrong. Obviously, every individual has a responsibility to form their personal opinions about morality. Similarly, it is obvious that to find it more difficult to search the correct answers to ethical questions in comparison to finding the correct answers to arithmetic problems. But an ethical relativist goes ahead and claims, there are not any objective ...

Philosophy

Stace is of the notion of ethical absolution as opposed to ethical relativism. Ethical absolution claims that there is indeed a universal moral code to which every human being is obliged either knowingly or unknowingly. Ethical relativism however is of the contrary opinion. Ethical relativism is of the notion that morality is relative. People coming from different cultures and backgrounds have their own definition of what is considered morally upright and what is frowned upon by ethical eyes.it is therefore impractical for one person to judge the other on grounds of their moral standing since there is no universally acceptable ...

Cultural Pluralism refers to a situation where different society groups with distinctive cultures peacefully coexist together with a dominant group. Cultural pluralism gives individual ethnic groups the right to live by their terms and cultural heritages (Weisbrod and carol, 29). The concept of cultural pluralism enhances cooperation among endogenous groups of diverse lifestyles and family structures. In the united state of America, cultural pluralists have paid tribute to the significance of this concept in enriching the citizens’ way of life. Immigrants and native-born Americans have learned a lot from each other. This has broaden their views on education, art, history, cuisine, music ...

Slavery in Cocoa Farms in Ivory Coast, 2001

Systemic, corporate and individual ethical issues The case raises a number of ethical issues that resonate around the systems, the corporates and the individuals as stakeholders in the blooming cocoa industry. It is noteworthy that Ivory Coast is the world’s leading importer of cocoa hence the ethical issues have assumed an international character. The stakeholders affected by these ethical issues include the Ivorian government and the cocoa farmers, American and European chocolate manufacturers and the ordinary chocolate consumer who does not know the origin of the products. The systemic ethical issues resonate around the Ivory Coast economy ...

As the authors point out in the opening chapter of Moral Issues in business, "Stories of business corruption and of greed and wrongdoing in high places have always fascinated the popular press, and media interest in business ethics has never been higher" (Shaw et alt, 4). Part of this fascination must stem from humans interest in "bad new" of disasters terrorism and threats to peaceful living. Some of the interest might be a self defense mechanism that seeks to guard against unwanted circumstances that could happen in people's lives through protection themselves of the knowledge of what has happened to ...

Globalization is a concept whose relevance to the global economy has been revered as well as embellished. Nonetheless, I hold that globalization is good for individuals but bad for humanity in its entirety. As defined by scholars, globalization brings to standard everyday life experiences through the dissemination of commodities and ideas. As a defining feature of globalization, the global integration of financial and economic sectors has been made possible by geopolitical changes, technological progress and overriding dogma of regulation by the market (Hamilton & Ward 13). While on one hand globalization unites the world, it excludes a significant part of the global ...

Introduction

There have been increased awareness on ethical business and environmental degradation within the recent decades. Just like human, organizations are held responsible for their actions. This paper explores the ethical theories and concepts as they apply to the case study of the OK Tedi Copper Mine. The new CEO of BHP, Paul Anderson had just come in office and faced with the task of managing what people had referred to as the world’s greatest ongoing “environmental disaster” (Velasquez, 2012).

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the locus of right and wrong solely on the consequences or outcomes ...

Introduction

Mary Midgley argues the concept of ethical relativism that seeks to dictate the universal moral standards of the societal way of life. She bring in the lime light that the concept of moral doctrine is clearly associated with the various relative communities or the societies in the surrounding arena and definitely dictates their course of action with regards to the various matters that hold them. The origins of the diverse doctrines originate from the various backgrounds that set the standards of the various beliefs that societies follow. An example is the sexual morality of which is reflected in ...

Introduction

Ethics refers to the branch of philosophy that deals with values relating to human conduct especially with respect to the wrongness or rightness of actions and also to the badness or goodness of the cause and ends of such actions (Franena, 1973). An ethical system is a set of correlated values that concern preferable modes of conduct. In other words an ethical system could refer to “a map of the good life” or “ground rules” that aids a person to make the right decision when in a dilemma. Several philosophers such as Emmanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and Jean Jacques Rousseau have over ...

AIG: Between Legally Right and Ethically Wrong

The AIG bailout is one case study that shows that things could be legally right but ethically wrong. It is a case that seem to violate many principles of ethical systems yet the actions of the company were upheld by law. It is ironic because law are supposed to reflect the highest of ethical standards (Ming, 1908). AIG has been one of those companies that are being blamed for worldwide financial crisis that started in 2008. Its officers mismanaged its investments and led to the collapse of the company and many of its investors. Since AIG is such a big ...

Ethics/Fundamentals of Ethics by Russ Shafer Landau

1.) Write an essay explaining the difference between monistic and pluralistic approaches to ethics. Give an example of a monistic theory, and explain why it qualifies as monistic. What are the two main types of pluralistic theories? Is ethical pluralism preferable to ethical monism? Defend your answer. Monism is used to explain a philosophy which considers only one Supreme Being in the universe. It explains all expansions and survival of creation which includes mental and corporal or spiritual beings. Monism in ethics is the belief of being optimistic or idealistic. A pluralistic approach to ethics on the other hand contains ...