Summary/Reaction

1. READ: Chapter 1 of the Textbook Moral Choices

2. At the end of the chapter, answer the "Question for review"

Review Questions:

1) How would you answer the question, Why be moral?

Being moral is good by nature since it is essential to a person's success in life.

After all, for the majority of people, success in life and morality may still go

hand in hand. For others being moral may seem like a weakness because of

their greed or it may come in their way of achieving what they want, but then

they look like bad people because of how they would treat people. Morality is

important because, when people are truly honest with themselves, they tend to

connect success in life with upholding moral principles. Most people still

believe that a person must possess moral integrity to succeed in life.

2) What is the myth of Gyges, and how does it relate to the question, Why be

moral?

Gyges had the option of living invisibly, doing whatever he pleased without

anyone ever knowing. He was free to act however he pleased and not be

caught. Plato concluded that having moral principles was worthwhile in and of

itself, regardless of any additional advantages it could have or harm it might

have prevented. Although Plato acknowledges that acting in our own best

interests is important, he maintains that doing what is just or right is always in

our best interests since doing wrong can harm our souls or other aspects of our

identities as individuals.
3) How are ethics important in fields such as business, medicine, and politics?

Politics and law both deal with how people should organize their lives in

society, hence morality is essential to both. Genetics and molecular biology,

for example, have various moral implications since they deal with the ethically

sensitive realms of life and death. The business also offers a range of ethical

minefields that can put the integrity of the men and women who are pushing

for success in an increasingly cutthroat global economy to the test. The fact

that these fields deal with the ethically contentious subjects of life and death

gives them a wide range of moral implications. Men and women in these

occupations must uphold moral principles and act morally. Every profession,

including business, health, and politics, depends on ethics. Every company has

an ethical code that directs its decisions and actions to produce effectively and

uphold its reputation.

4) How would you distinguish between ethics and morality?

Ethics is the method used to ascertain what is right and wrong, while morality

relates to the actual content of right and wrong. While ethics deals with moral

reasoning, morality deals with knowledge. Ethics are the standards you must

uphold to stay in a group or profession. Morals are your essential personal

ideals that guide every aspect of who you are. Distinguishing between "good

and terrible" or "right and wrong" is a loose definition shared by morality and

ethics.
5) What are descriptive ethics, normative ethics, metaethics, and aretaic ethics?

Descriptive ethics is concerned with what people genuinely feel (or are led to

believe) to be right or wrong, and hence puts human behaviors up as

acceptable or not acceptable or penalized under a tradition or law. A

normative discipline, which creates moral standards or outcomes as its

ultimate result, is a sociological field that aims to characterize the morals of a

certain culture.

While descriptive ethics discusses moral behavior, normative ethics prescribes

it. The goal of normative ethics is to develop theories that offer overarching

moral principles that guide our behavior.

Investigating the epistemology of ethics, or the meaning of moral language,

metaethics also considers how ethical theories and judgments are supported.

Instead of making rational arguments, metaethics evaluates and makes

observations on how the ethical game is being played.

Aretaic ethics emphasizes the virtues that are generated in people rather than

the morality of particular deeds. In applied ethics, specific concerns in private

and public life that involve moral judgment are philosophically examined from

a moral perspective.

6) When a moral assessment is made, what must be assessed besides the action?

Think about the action. Determine the person's motivation for taking the

activity. Analyse the impact of the activity. Analyse the moral actor's

personality. It is important to evaluate the character, the action, the motive,

and the consequences.

ethics?

Deontological: An activity is either right or wrong by definition.

Teleological systems are predicated on the outcome of an action.

Deontological ethics focuses on the rightness or wrongness of actions without

taking into account any other factors, as opposed to teleological ethics, which

examines the results of actions to determine whether they are right or wrong.

Two competing ethical theories teleological and deontological ethics

determine whether an action is morally good or wrong. Teleological ethics

examines the results of an action to determine whether it is good or evil,

whereas deontological ethics examines the action itself to discover whether it

is good or bad.

8) How would you describe the relationship between morality and the law?

Morality is something you have to uphold, such as being loyal to your spouse.

Law does not automatically imply the right action. Even while there is no

legislation prohibiting cheating, it does not follow that doing so is morally

correct. By the moral responsibility that is imposed and the necessity of action

concerning a necessity end, law and morality are tied to one another since the

law, as the command of practical reason, inevitably entails an obligation.

Therefore, duty stems from the fundamental idea of law as an effective

demand of practical reason, a relationship of some necessity between the

conduct commanded and the aim for which that act is commanded. However,

the obligation of morality differs from that of positive human laws.

I agree with Plato that doing what is just or right is always in our best interests

since doing wrong can harm our souls. I also believe that doing wrong and unjust can

also hurt others and not only our selves. As the chapter stated being moral is essential

for the Christian if we want to live lives that strive to glorify God and this is one of

the reasons that I take ethics and morality important. Being moral and having good

ethics makes you good person to yourself, to others and most importantly God.

As stated in the chapter morality and ethics are important to our everyday

society. Everyday decisions we make are guided by an ethical structure that assists us

avoid unjust results and helps us make decisions that have good effects on the world.

Through our decisions, ethics teaches us how to improve the world. Our judgments

and behaviours, in both our personal and professional life as well as other areas, are

influenced by our ethical standards. No matter how big or small, our efforts for the

common good can have a significant effect. Living ethically will guarantee that our

influence is for the better.