CMP – Ethical Theories (John Stuart Mill – Utilitarianism), Contemporary Moral Problems by James E. White April 12, 2009
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In this part of the chapter the author shared the essay of John Stuart Mill. John Stuart Mill is an influential
British Philosopher. He wrote several books about ethics, morality and philosophy. In his essay the main
topic was utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by
its contribution to overall utility that is, its contribution to happiness or pleasure as summed among all
persons. Basically it is the action with the greatest good for the majority. This is the ethical theory that I
agree with. I think that the right thing to do is the one that would benefit the majority. Utilitarianism is also
about actions which would bring happiness to the majority. Another interesting topic discussed in this
essay is of what sort of proof the Principal of Utility us susceptible. Mill argues that the only proof that
something is desirable is that people actually desire it. It is a fact that happiness is a good, because all
people desire their own happiness. Thus, it is clear that happiness is at least one end, and one criterion,
of morality. However, in order to show that happiness is the sole criterion for morality, it is necessary to
show that people never desire anything but happiness. Mill says that people do desire things like virtue,
which in common language is distinguished from happiness……
CMP – Ethical Theories (Mary Midgley – Trying Out One’s New Sword), Contemporary Moral Problems by James E. White April 12, 2009
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Midgley’s definition of moral isolationism is the following, in consists in simply denying that we
can ever understand any culture except our own well enough to make judgments about it. One of the
reasons that she argues that this is an untenable position is that if we cannot sufficiently understand
another culture to criticize them, we would not be able to praise them either. If tomorrow, China turned
from a Communist country to a Democratic one, we would want to praise them for making the right
choice. However, if one holds that we cannot criticize cultures that hold to different values because we
don’t have sufficient understanding of them, it would then be inconsistent to be able to praise other
cultures as well. Midgley’s example of an aspect of a different society that we would praise is some of the
virtues held by Samurais. Her point is however the same. She takes the idea that we cannot praise other
cultures for a set of values as absurd. Hence, moral isolationism results in an absurd consequence that
should cause it to be rejected. Her second point against moral isolationism is that if we are not able to
make moral judgments about other societies, we are not able to make them about our own either. She
explains how moral judgment is void if moral isolationism is true. Our opinions of other societies being
good or bad are necessary in order to state an opinion concerning our own. These opposing ideas form a
range of comparison which allows us to say whether we should or should not be like them. One example
is how the Samurais used to test their battle swords on random commoners in order to insure that the
sword was correctly sharpened. If we didn’t come to the conclusion that this practice was unjust, then
how could we come to the conclusion that we should perform this practice in our society? The only way to
learn from other society’s mistakes or successes is to be able to form moral judgments about them. In this
sense, Midgley says how moral judgment is not something we can discard. It is necessary if we are to
learn from other’s mistakes. If moral isolationism was true, we would not be able to learn from other
culture’s mistakes or successes. Since we can learn from other country’s mistakes, moral isolationism is
false. The first of Midgley’s assumptions is that moral judgment is necessary. When we judge something
as good, we are saying that there is reason to pursue it. It is the same way with judging something as
bad; we are stating that there is reason to avoid it. Her second assumption is needed for her first point
against moral isolationism to hold. That being that we can understand a culture enough to praise them.
For her second point against moral isolationism to hold, she must assume that moral reasoning in general
is justified. She assumes that it is plausible to say that certain acts are right or wrong. Her last assumption
can be illuminated by asking the question, “What does it mean to be ‘of’ a certain society?…..
CMP – Ethical Theories (Friedrich Nietzsche – Master and Slave Morality), Contemporary Moral Problems by James E. White April 12, 2009
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With the help of Wikipedia, I found out that master-slave morality is the central theme of Friedrich
Nietzsche’s works, in particular the first essay of On the Genealogy of Morality. Nietzsche argued that
there were two fundamental types of morality: ‘Master morality’ and ‘slave morality’. Master morality
weighs actions on a scale of good or bad consequences unlike slave morality which weighs actions on a
scale of good or evil intentions. What Nietzsche meant by ‘morality’ deviates from common understanding
of this term. For Nietzsche, a particular morality is inseparable from the formation of a particular culture.
This means that its language, codes and practices, narratives, and institutions are informed by the
struggle between these two types of moral valuation. For Nietzsche, master-slave morality provides the
basis of all exegesis of Western thought. Moving on to Nietzsche’s concept of master morality, it is the
morality of the strong-willed. What is good is what is helpful; what is bad is what is harmful. Morality as
such is sentiment. In the prehistoric state, the value or non-value of an action was derived from its
consequences but ultimately, there are no moral phenomena at all, only moral interpretations of
phenomena. For these strong-willed men, the ‘good’ is the noble, strong and powerful, while the ‘bad’ is
the weak, cowardly, timid and petty. The essence of master morality is nobility. Morality is designed to
protect that which the strong-willed man values, and for slave and master, Fear is the mother of morality.
Other qualities that are often valued in master moralities are open-mindedness, courage, truthfulness,
trust and an accurate sense of self-worth. Master morality begins in the ‘noble man’ with a spontaneous
idea of the good, and then the idea of bad develops as what is not good. The noble type of man
experiences itself as determining values; it does not need approval; it judges, what is harmful to me is
harmful in itself; it knows itself to be that which first accords honor to things; it is value-creating. In this
sense, the master morality is the full recognition that oneself is the measure of all things. Insomuch as
something is helpful to the strong-willed man it is like what he values in himself; therefore, the strongwilled
man values such things as ‘good’. Masters are creators of morality; slaves respond to mastermorality
with their slave-morality…..
CMP – Ethical Theories (John Arthur – Religion, Morality, and Conscience), Contemporary Moral Problems by James E. White April 12, 2009
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People are becoming more and more devoid of morals. Just about all of us have a set of rules
that we live by, a personal list of do’s and don’ts that is based on our own belief system. I have to agree
with that statement because I myself have my do’s and don’ts regardless of what my family or my religion
believes in. For me it is all about believing on what you believe is right, no influence of religion, family,
and etc. These sets of rules are what make us unique and set us apart from the animals. However, now,
more than ever, our society represents one based on a foundation of immorality and principles that are
meaningless. As we look outside our windows, vast amounts of crime, war, and lies is all that can be
seen. I’ll give a concrete example about that. Our generation is now more into pre-marital sex. Every
person I talk to will say that is normal nowadays. I don’t know what triggered this but what know is many
people are realizing that morals are hindrances to their lives. For example, it is stipulated in the bible that
you must not have sex before marriage. Today, many people don’t believe that already. If you will
internalize it, you will find out that it is somehow true. Pre-marital sex is cool indeed. As per movies, it is
now common to have this kind of acts present. There seems to be an abundance of publicists, lobbyists,
marketers, and lawyers who all they want is money, and they do whatever it takes to get it, without any
disregard for anyone or anything that gets in their way. This compromise of morals may soon lead the
world into chaos and disorder. How can one define morality? What is right and wrong? What is good and
evil? It is mankind’s most crucial element. Morality is the basis in which man judges himself…….
CMP – Ethical Theories (James Rachels – Egoism and Moral Skepticism), Contemporary Moral Problems by James E. White April 12, 2009
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Psycholocgical Egosim is also defined as a reflex that every person has to orient themselves
toward their own welfare. Through this, it follows that every one of his (or her) voluntary actions is some
good to himself. If someone gives away the last piece of bread to someone else, it is because they want
to look like a better person, due to the fact that they would give away the last piece of bread. Human
nature is completely and exclusively egoistic. People are entirely selfish and devoid of any genuine
feelings of sympathy, benevolence, or sociability. They are always thinking of themselves in everything
they do. Each individual is preoccupied exclusively with the gratification of personal desires (felicity or
happiness).Ones success in maintaining a continuous flow of gratification is the means of one’s
happiness. Our ordinary thinking about morality is full of assumptions that we almost never question. We
assume, for example, that we have an obligation to consider the welfare of other people when we decide
what actions to perform or what rules to obey; we think that we must refrain from acting in ways harmful to
others, and that we must respect their rights and interests as well as our own. We also assume that
people are in fact capable of being motivated by such considerations, that is, that people are not wholly
selfish and that they do sometimes act in the interests of others…..
AS16, EX6, AS17, AS18, AS19 – ArgeL CruZ April 9, 2009
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AS16 – FaceBook
EX6 – Credit Card Validator
AS17 – amCharts
AS18 – Aut0-complete revisited (aka City Lookup) & Style Switcher pending
AS19 – fb-style pending
POPURLS – ArgeL CruZ March 22, 2009
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Sir here
Simple Pie Exercise – ArgeL CruZ March 17, 2009
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My 3 Life Changing Realization March 17, 2009
Posted by ArgeL CruZ in Uncategorized.Tags: Argel Cruz, ORDEV-C
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Argel T. Cruz 26 January 2009
ORDEV-C
The first significant life changing realization I experienced in my college life is when I was admitted at the college. It really changed my life because I discovered myself that life in college is really diverse when opposed to my high school and grade school life. First of all, the culture in Benilde is different in other colleges. I can say that because when I converse with my former high school friends, they say to me that it is very different there at your college. The second thing I discovered is that when you are in college, you can almost do whatever you want that you can’t formerly do in high school. It includes: going home late, going anywhere you want within your reach and many more! But one thing I learned is that you must be responsible for all of your actions. For example, if you decide to smoke or drink and use drugs, you must be then responsible and liable for those actions. In my personal case, I first drank alcoholic beverages when I was in my freshman year in college (I don’t smoke and use drugs). In that matter, I learned that I must be a responsible drinker so that I can still go home and look normal. Moreover, in college, you can meet a many vast new friends. As for my feedback to that, it is not that hard to choose new friends. But as a precaution, you must join a group with a good image; I mean not to join the “petiks group” or the group which is in to not so good actions or attitudes. I also learned on how to blend into many types of people in Benilde. Most of the community there are rich people. But I have learned that even though they are rich, some are down to earth and really approachable, but of course there is always an exception. There are some who is really “presko” and boastful of their assets. Based on my experience you need to get along with everybody so that you can gain more friends, even though not your best buddies but at least you have a good friendship with them because in some point in time, they could be handy. So as for my conclusion for the first life changing realization I experienced in my college life, oneself must be ready for a change, especially if it isn’t comfortable or easy to change something. The ability to adopt or to adjust to the transition from high school life to college is key to one’s success in college.
The second significant life changing realization I experienced in my college life is when I attended in my “Pagtuklas” and “Paghilom” recollection. In that event, I was able to realize my mistakes in both my college and family life. Recollection indeed is necessary to have in everyone’s lives. Based on my experience, it is the time to reflect to your life. I was able to realize my standing or vision towards life. It also helped me to converse with my block mates and tell them what I feel for them. In other words, it is like a “bull-session”. You get to know the perceptions of others towards you. Everyone was able to confess their feelings to each other. After those recollections, I feel relieved and my feeling was lighter. I was also able to develop a better relationship with my friends and block mates. In addition, this experience was very important to me because it helped build my personality and character. I was also able to change the bad attitudes that were attributed to me (I am not forced but decided to change for the betterment of me). So as for my conclusion to this life changing realization, this must be significant but I should say that this isn’t the greatest change in my life.
Moving on, the last the significant life changing realization I experienced in my college life is when I discovered how important is to be successful during my stay in college. For me, college is the stepping to the transition from college life to the real life. It thought me what life after college is. The college has done a pretty good job molding us into young professionals and prepare is in the next industry wherein we will move on. It gave us an overview on where we stand in the industry. One concept I learned is the “monggo”. It was thought by my professor in ORDEV-C. We, college students are the monggo and when it is thrown out in the soil, the question is “will we grow or die?” With that concept, we must be prepared so that when we are thrown out in the real life, we could grow progressively. So as for my conclusion to the third life changing realization in college life, it is very imperative to take seriously the life in college.
AS11, AS10 – ArgeL CruZ March 11, 2009
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