Ethics and Moral Problems Take Home Final Part II

PHIL 1120 Noelle Cranmer

Section 1:
a) According to Oxford dictionary, autonomy is defined as freedom from external
control or influence. You have the freedom to be ones own person. Mills notion of
autonomy can be defined as that of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This
notion differs from Kants which states that we have free will to do what we want;
moral culpability. And as an agent of this free will, we have the capacity to act in
accordance with objective morality rather than under the influence of desires. One
example that we discussed while in class from a utilitarian stance was Proposition 8
in California. We talked about how 51% of Californians voted for Prop 8. This
effectively made same sex marriage illegal. A utilitarian would not care that 51% of
people voted, they would care that the most amount of good was done for the most
amount of people. Taking that same example, from a Deontological stance, what
would matter is that we are able to exercise our free will and get out there and vote.
We have a say in this proposition and can directly affect the outcome.
b) In regards to equality: Deontological and Utilitarianism. The Deontological stance of
equality is that we are all equal. The Utilitarian stance is that we are not equal, and
as such it is a moral principle that we are not. One of the examples that I remember
talking about was John Rawls From Justice as Fairness, in it he talks about liberty
and equality. Another example for the utilitarian stance was when we talked about
the The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. Whereby the town is able to have all
of these wonderful things because the cruel treatment of one person allows the

others to continue living in paradise. The child that is in the basement is not treated
equally because then they would not be able to achieve the greatest good for the
most amount of people.
c) Aristotle had the belief that everything that exists has a purpose. (Teleology). Take
an acorn as an example: if you plant an acorn in the ground, then what will happen?
Well, an oak tree will grow. Nothing else can grow. Its not like you plant an acorn
and a human is going to sprout up from the ground. The oak tree is the purpose
(telos) of the acorn. He states that the reason why we go to work, or school, or do all
of the thing we do, is because we want to be happy and lasting happiness can only
be achieved through virtue. Eudemonia, human flourishing, is an activity of the soul
in accordance with virtue. Virtue is something that we are meant to do as human
beings. This goes in hand with the Golden Mean. The Golden Mean is where you
find the balance between customs and habits and not to have an excess of fear
(there needs to be balance; feeling the right amount of fear, but not so much that you
are too afraid to do what needs to be done). If your rational mind is at work, then
your reason will lead you to do virtue. Its only when you allow your reason to be
corrupted by your emotions that you will allow yourself to do things that are not
virtuous. Once we have practiced and practiced and practiced being virtuous (it may
take a lifetime!), then it will become a character trait. Examples and excerpts from
James Rachels The Ethics of Virtue were talked about in class at great length.
d) Nietzsches Genealogy of Morals is a three-part essay on essentially the origin of
moral concepts. Nietzsche wants to understand how to get to the idea that certain
things are morally good and why other things are not. Do to this he is tracking
down the entomology of ethical terms. He believes that we can find the foundations

of our moral beliefs if we can develop an accurate genealogy. Unlike Aristotles belief
that we do not choose who we are and that nature is knowable through reason,
Nietzsche believed that we are whoever we say we are. We have a will and that is
the will to power.
e) Karl Marx believed that human beings are in a state of alienation. Individuals are
separated from their lives. We work to get ahead in life, but we give away our
forenoons and afternoons to whomever we work for. We are never quite comfortable
with ourselves so we work more to fill the hole that is inside of us. He did not think
that we should have been called Homo Sapiens. He thought the term Homo Faber
was more accurate a person that builds, creates, produces, etc. Marx is most
famous for identifying the class struggles of the haves and have-nots. The Havesthe elite bourgeois and the Have-nots the working-class proletariat. Marx thinks
that the proletariat should start a revolution against the bourgeois and then
redistribute the wealth amongst the working-class.

Section 2:
f) In the Thomas Hobbs book Of the State of Men without Civil Society he makes
mention of a social contract. What is meant by this term is Hobbs believed that life was
flat out dangerous and archaic. Mankind was disgusting, stupid and brutish; its only
interest was its self-interest. The only way that anybody could survive was to voluntarily
enter into a social contract with the State. Individuals were then to govern their own
conduct for the benefit of the entire society. The State could then act as protector. By

voluntarily giving up some of your freedoms and civil liberties, all of the societys
members could benefit.
g) The Ring of Gyges is a story whereby a shepherd is out in the fields one day and
happens upon a ring. He likes the ring so he puts it on. To his amazement, he becomes
invisible. Glaucon is in a conversation with Plato about the story. He wants to know what
would you do if you came upon the ring? Would you use for good? Would you use it for
bad? Or would you not use it at all? Some students say, I would never use it. Others say
that they would use it to right wrongs. Some of the answers given involve killing the King
and taking up with his wife! So, what is learned by the story? Basically, what it boils
down to is that you cannot trust anybody. You can think if it as a forced trust I have to
trust the fact that you are not going to use the ring to spy on me. The ring gives you
invisibility, no one would even know that you were there. You would have to trust that
people would be moral enough to not use it in a way that is immoral.
Question #1 on the back- Abortion, Capital Punishment and Euthanasia can be grouped
in ethical philosophy with the subset of applied ethics. Applied ethics pertains to issues
such as the ones mentioned within the question. All three call for a moral judgment to be
applied to the situation. Now, Im not entirely sure that I understand the question,
because these also have utilitarian components to them. That is to say that capital
punishment for example: If a serial killer has been caught and is finally going to be
executed, then his death benefits the people in that he is no longer able to terrorize
society and kill people. His death was the greater good for the most amount of people.
This is why I dont believe that you have to be for or against all three to be able to be

rationally consistent. It depends entirely upon the situation. Anything to the contrary is
just black and white thinking.
Question #2 on the back- Three ways that the typical way of living in America is
unethical is:
1. We are a throw away nation. I have friends whose grade school kids have nicer
phones than I do! Once the newness of the phones wears off, people have to buy the
next latest and greatest model. It is the same thing with computers. Six months after
buying a new computer, it has already become obsolete.
2. The concept of supersized anything. The dietary habits of the average American are
deplorable. We ingest far too much fat, sugar, and caffeine. We buy too much food, but
end up wasting most of it. Poverty is something that can be exploited when you can go
to McDonalds and order 10 different foods from the dollar menu.
3. We have to be the most narcissistic race on the planet. When people like Kim
Kardashian (and wouldnt you know it! Spell check recognizes the last name) breaks the
internet because a cover of a magazine with her naked butt on it is hot off the press.
More people voted for American Idol than voted in the last major election. We have
become so self-absorbed with beauty, large homes and money that other areas of life
suffer.