Ethics - Argumentative Essay Example for Free

Ethics Argumentative Essay 1. What is an â€Å"argument† in philosophy? A set of claims one of which, called the conclusion, is said to be supported by the other claims, called the premises. 1. Premise 2. Premise 3. Conclusion 2. What do the terms â€Å"valid† and â€Å"sound† mean? Valid Argument If the premises are true, then it follows necessarily that the conclusion is true, or it is logically impossible for the conclusion to be false. Sound Argument A valid argument that contains only true premises. Soundness = Truth + Validity. 3. Sketch the â€Å"benefits arguments† in favor of harvesting Baby’s Theresa’s organs. Set out the premises and conclusion for Benefits Argument in the Baby Theresa case. The Benefits Argument 1. If we can benefit someone without harming anyone else, we ought to do so. 2. Transplanting the organs would benefit the other children without harming Baby Theresa. 3. Therefore, we ought to transplant her organs. The Argument That We should Not Use People As Means 1. If we use someone only as a means, we do something that is morally wrong. 2. Taking Theresas organs would be using her only as a meas to benefit other children. 3. There fore, it would be morally wrong to take Theresas organs. 4. Sketch the â€Å"we should not use people as means† argument against harvesting Baby Theresa’s organs. Set out the premises and conclusion for The Wrongfulness of Killing Argument in the Baby Theresa case. The Argument From the Wrongfulness of Killing 1. If we harvested Theresas organs, then we would be killing one innocent person to save another. 2. We should not kill one innocent person to save another. 3. Therefore, if we should not harvest Theresas organs. Rachels Assessment *The prohibition against killing is strong, but most people do not think it absolute. Baby Theresa is (1) going to die soon anyway, (2) not conscious, and (3) her organs could help save several other children. Rachels states that we might even regard Baby Theresa as born dead. 5. Sketch the â€Å"Slippery Slope Argument† against killing Tracy Latimer. If one bad thing happens then others will follow after. 1. If we permit any sort of mercy killing, we will have stepped onto a dangerous slippery slope down which we will inevitably slide. 2. The mercy killing of Tracy was permissible. 3. Hence, we have stepped onto a dangerous slippery slope (which will lead to the view that all life is cheap). Objection: Are the causal claims supported by any evidence? In general, it is easy to make dire predictions concerning the future. Consider an analogy: Would gay marriage lead to the disintegration of the family? 6. What does Rachels’s â€Å"minimum conception of morality† consist of? Morality is, at the very least, the effort to guide one’s conduct by reason-while giving equal weight to the interests of each individual affected by one’s decision. Reason and impartiality consist stuff 7. What are five common features of Cultural Relativism? 1. Different societies have different moral codes. 2. (a) The good is determined by society; (b) an act is right if it is allowed by the guiding ideals od the society in which it is performed, and wrong if it forbidden by those ideals. 3. There is no objective standard that can be used to judge one societys code as better than an others. 4. The moral code of our society has no special status. 5. We should adopt an attitude to tolerance. 8. What is the â€Å"Cultural Differences† argument for Cultural Relativism? Does Rachels think it is sound? he thinks it is unsound, 9. If Cultural Relativism is true, then some odd consequences for ethical theory follow. What are they? 10. Does Rachels hold that there are some moral rules that all societies have in common? 11. What are the three traditional divine attributes of monotheism? 12. What is the difference between â€Å"theism†, â€Å"atheism†, and â€Å"agnosticism†? 13. What is the â€Å"problem of evil†? 14. What is the Divine Command theory? 15. What is Socratess question in the Euthyphro? How does it bear on the Divine Command Theory? 16. What are some of the main elements of Natural Law Theory? 17. Raise some objections to Natural Law Theory. 18. What is Ethical Egoism and how does it differ from Psychological Egoism? 19. Define â€Å"altruism†. Why does the Psychological Egoist hold that altruism is not possible? 20. Some object that Ayn Rand’s argument for Ethical Egoism presents us with a â€Å"false dichotomy†. Explain. 21. Why doesn’t Rachels think Ethical Egoism is a fair reflection of common sense morality? 22. What is the Principle Equal Treatment? How does it relate to Ethical Egoism? *There will be some extra-credit questions pertaining to material discussed in lecture.

Immigration and Immigrants are Destroying America Essay -- Argumentati

The U.S. is slammed by growing numbers in population. It seems that many do not think of the long term effects of this increase. This is one of the most significant problems Americans face today, yet no one talks about the problem, when it comes to the debate over immigration. â€Å"The current world population is over 6 billion and increases at a rate of 76,570,430 people every year. Since 1950, U.S. population has nearly doubled - growing from 151 million to over 294 million today. If present trends continue, our population will exceed 400 million by the year 2050. Immigration contributes over one million people to the U.S. population annually. The total foreign-born population in the U.S. is now 31.1 million, a record 57 percent increase since 1990. About 8 million of those are here illegally--a 4.5 million increase since 1990. Almost one-third of all immigration during the 1990s was illegal. An NPG demographic analysis of age distribution, fertility, and mortality data sho ws that if there had been no immigration to the U.S. since 1990, the population in 2000 would have been 262 million–19 million less than the 281 million counted. Thus, post-1990 immigrants and their children accounted for 61 percent of population growth during the last decade.† (Negative Population Growth. 2004. http://www.npg.org/index.html). Supporters of letting more immigrants come into the country claim that immigrants do not take away jobs from the hard working American. They have a claim that it actually helps boost America’s economy by increasing the purchasing of goods. Advocates of immigration, claim that Americans think they are too good to hold certain jobs and immigrants fill the jobs Americans do not want. The Director of Workforce Success, Phylis Eisen states, â€Å"Tens of thousands of jobs go unfilled in the high tech industry. The Hewlett-Packards, the Intels, the Motorollas, the entire semi-conducting industry has to fill forty-thousand jobs in the next three years. If they can’t do this, they have to go overseas. The companies always prefer to stay in America.† (Immigration: Promise and Hope for Generations. 1998). This does not seem to be the case when so many companies actually leave their U.S. home factories and build new ones in third world countries. (The Big One. Michael Moore. 1998). Why would any company prefer to stay in America when they could ... ... Jessica. â€Å"Should We Keep Them Out?† Time Oct. 2001.). If America would have tightened its security to begin with there would not be this problem. All because of the lack of the U.S. immigration policy, America is left only with the memories of those who lost their live on September eleventh. Where does America draw the line? America is literally destroying itself because there are no solid grounds on immigration in the U.S. After September eleventh, a new â€Å"secure† policy on immigration was launched. How long until this new way of controlling America’s immigration is forgot about like so many other actual laws that were proposed? The U.S. cannot let its land be turned into a madhouse where people are everywhere. American’s jobs, education, taxes, comfort, economy, and most important safety, are on the front line battlefield. The U.S. government and its people need to get serious about who is let into this country. A revolution needs to be made and engraved into the public of its new reform. If America continues to sit back and be overtaken by booming numbers from other countries, America will eventually destroy itself. It will be the death of a nation.

Implications of War on Terrorism on Public Relations Essay

The present Iraq War and War on terrorism have brought new dilemmas for the governments and businesses. How can the companies and government involve themselves in creating a society that is free of discrimination and respect personal freedoms. Even more important is how to avoid the pitfalls that turn out to be a public relations nightmare. One example of such an incident was when British Airways asked an employee to remove the cross she was wearing. British News paper published the news with the headline â€Å"British Airways allows Muslim headscarves, but not Christian symbols†. The woman at the center of the debate decide to sue the airline and the British Airways had to retract its notice after the public relations debacle that only brought it worldwide bad press. Former foreign Secretary, Jack Straw caused another furor by asking the Muslim women wearing veils, visiting his constituency surgery to remove their veils. In the present charged atmosphere, the simple request was seen as another attack on Muslim culture and British Muslims already feeling themselves cornered and persecuted made sure that the topic became a controversial subject. After all, Jack Straw is no Ayatollah Khomeini who has already told Iranian women to wear ‘hijab’ (dress similar to that of catholic nuns) but not cover their faces with veils. The ensuing debate caused high tempers both among traditional Muslims as an attack on personal freedoms at one end and from the mainstream British on banning the veil in public. Jack Straw finally issued a statement that his request was merely a suggestion to visiting constituency members and he did not insist on removal of veil. The war on terrorism and 7/7 tubes bombing has created a special need to sooth the fears of law abiding British Muslims who have just about as much to do with the bombings as any other citizen or the Brazilian shot in the aftermath of 7/7 tube bombing [Thompson et al, 2006]. The law enforcement institutions also have to ensure that the war-on-terrorism does not destroy the good public relations they have so laboriously built with all communities. The present world politics has necessitated a more sensitive handling of religious issues. Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and other religious minorities appear to have become incredibly sensitive and an important research issue is to survey how businesses varying from multi-national corporations to high street shops and industrial concerns have prepared themselves to avoid public relations disasters like British Airways ban on wearing religious symbols at work. Political parties and public figures and celebrities also need to prepare for being ethnically sensitive and religiously neutral. As a part of my 10 week research study I am proposing to survey the importance of religious symbols for our multi cultural society, investigate how the celebrities, public figures and industrial and business sector has prepared itself for the sensitivity of the present times. It would also be of interest to see if totally secular operating practices are acceptable and practical in a multi religious, multi cultural environment. The research is expected to prepare guidelines for various stakeholders to avoid public relation failures and unnecessary problems which result from over enthusiasm in this sensitive area. Bibliography 1. The Mail, (2006, Oct 16), Airline bans woman from wearing cross, [Online] Retrieved from Internet on 25 February 2007, cited in http://card. wordpress. com/2006/10/16/airline-bans-woman-from-wearing-cross/ 2. Guardian Unlimited, (2006, Oct. 05), Straw asks Muslim women to remove veil, [Online] Retrieved from Internet on 25 February 2007, cited in http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1888546,00.html#article_continue

The Problem of Obesity in America - 840 Words

Obesity: one of the nation’s most critical health problems. â€Å"Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors. Obesity is defined as having excess body fat† (â€Å"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention†). When energy input and output get out of balance, obesity arises. Many factors can cause someone to become obese such as genetics, metabolism, level of physical activity, and more. â€Å"Overweight and obesity are the result of â€Å"caloric imbalance†Ã¢â‚¬â€too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors† (â€Å"CDC Features - Obesity Genetics†). â€Å"When a person eats and drinks more calories than he or she burns, the energy balance tips toward weight gain, overweight, and obesity† (â€Å"Understanding Adult Overweight and Obesityà ¢â‚¬ ). Obesity is increasing throughout the United States due to lack of healthy behaviors, big health risk, genetics and increasing in children and adults. First of all, there have been many researches to show that genetics can be linked to obesity. Obesity depends on the persons genetic make-up. Our genes regulate how your body stores, captures and release energy from food. According to research, obesity runs in families. Obesity and even how thin you are depends on your families’ history. â€Å"In a study of adults who were adopted as children, researchers found that participating adultShow MoreRelatedObesity Problem In America1733 Words   |  7 PagesObesity is a trouble that nearly every country in the world is facing, but there is a lot that people can do to repair it. More people die in the United States of too much food than of too little. In the 1970’s, people ate about 2,160 calories per day. Today, people eat around 2,673 calories per day. 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