Moral Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Moral Philosophy Essay Hare uses the â€Å"indirect† version of utilitarianism. Hare believes that individuals can deliberate at the intuitive level. In dire situations where there is no time to evaluate decisions on a critical level, intuition maybe used to commit most acts. Direct utilitarianism follows a rigid rules approach to utilitarianism. Hare’s approach implies that certain acts done intuitively will become moral because the decision was made on a gut level instinct instead of simply following a set of rules. Hare attempts to distinguish his theories from â€Å"crude† or direct utilitarianism. However, it would seem that he does not remove the problems of direct utilitarianism, but he manages to create new ones. â€Å"An act (for act utilitarians) or rule (for rule utilitarians) is right if and only if the act or rule maximizes the utility of all persons (or sentient beings). † 1 Following the direct utilitarianism approach, there is no flexibility for human emotion or consequences. In addition, there is no true definition of what is right for all persons. An example would be a decision by a surgeon in an emergency room to save the life of an elderly priest or that of a young man that was in a terrible car accident. By the direct utilitarianism approach, the surgeon would have to ascertain what would be best for all persons. Such a decision would realistically be made deliberation and gut instinct. The direct utilitarianism approach does not answer what is best for everyone in this type of circumstance. The problem with Hare’s approach is one can prove virtually any moral dilemma with custom tailored and non-realistic circumstances where gut instinct would be used as the determining factor for the situation. There are no set guidelines for defining what is moral for these extenuating circumstances. Hare in general often speaks about conflicting desires, and he seems to adhere to Plato’s notion that being good coincides with being informed. What Hare fails to address is that some individuals might desire to do evil. Hare presumes that the individual is going to conform to the standards of society and use deliberation to not commit heinous and horrific acts. With the direct utilitarianism approach, individuals will act for the good of everyone thus more likely to conform to moral restrictions placed upon them by society. Hare’s approach states that individuals will follow gut instinct to do what is moral but at the same time Hare’s approach calls for individuals to follow deliberation when making some decisions. For the individual that is a sociopath, Hare’s response would be that the sociopath would â€Å"condemn those desires at a critical level†. 2 With the assumption of individual conformity to the group’s standard, Hare is contracting his gut instinct part of the decision making progress. Hare argues that direct utilitarianism cannot accommodate political rights because the government is an institutional set of rules and regulations. Direct utilitarianism assumes that the government knows what is best for the majority. Hare’s approach would require the individual to deliberate as to follow the rules set forth by the government. Using Hare’s approach it would be ethical for an individual to refuse to pay taxes or speed on the highway because there would’ve been a deliberation and analysis based on the critical level of thinking. Hare’s approach is more direct utilitarianism on the political issues because the individual will most likely make a choice that is inherently good for everyone to avoid negative consequences such as a speeding ticket or imprisonment. Each decision or choice that the individual makes results in some type of consequence. Hare’s approach to indirect utilitarianism does not address consequences. The direct utilitarianism addresses consequences because the individual is going to follow rules that are set forth for the good of the whole. Direct utilitarianism requires conformity to societal standards to maximize individual happiness. Hare’s approach requires that the individual deliberate and make a decision. Yet, the other part of his approach requires the individual to follow gut instinct while conforming to good of the whole to make an ethical decision. Instead of refuting the direct utilitarianism approach, Hare is supporting the notion that we all have a set of rules that we inherently follow. To strictly follow Hare’s approach to indirect utilitarianism, society would be in total chaos because virtually any circumstance can be manipulated to appear as though the individual was following instinct and thus making a moral decision. There are no overall guidelines for extenuating circumstances with Hare’s approach to indirect utilitarianism. Hare creates more chaos in trying to refute the direct utilitarianism approach instead of providing solid arguments for the nature of human beings and ethical decisions.

17th century english writers Essays -- essays research papers

The Pen Is Mightier Than The King The 17th century saw a king’s head roll and an English Caesar sit the throne, in the midst of all of this a new class was rising. England in the 17th century was rife with change, there was much work to be done before the industrial revolution could fully grip the nation. For hundreds of years the monarch had dominated the political landscape, now that was changing radically. Although their remained a Monarch in power for most of this period they had seen their powers limited to the point of reducing them to the status of figurehead. As farming techniques and technology had improved, the population in England had increased steadily and the use of this new technology created a new class in society.(1) This merchant class was on the rise due in large part to the captured markets in North America and the West Indies which had made many a merchant richer than their aristocratic brethren. The British Parliament had seen its power expand over the last hundred years and would continue that trend in the 17th century finding itself with the power to behead even the king.(1) As Parliament flexed their new found muscle the king was forced to find the funding for his political intrigues among the new merchant class. In addition to this new found monetary prowess the middle classes had been exposed to a rich variety of philosophers who espoused the right of the people to rule themselves.(1) Revolution in the New World and in parts of Europe increasingly made the lower classes aware of their right to self-governance. The parliament a representative of the people showed its power in the 17th century by enacting the â€Å"Glorious Revolution† and crippling the English monarchy for the rest of time.(1) Indeed in the next century the French Revolution would show that not only a government body had the power to remove royalty, the common people could also spill royal blood. As a result of this change in the class structure Monarchs and parliament where forced to recognize the power of the common people and they would from then on need to seek the peoples favor. The danger of an uprising was quite real and could not be controled by marshal means, as there was no standing police force or army.(1) In addition leaders of the time where selected by birth and not by political prowess and as such many of them lacked the eloquence to persuade the pe... ... lost their power and the war ended soon after this publication.(1) Each of these men has come to be associated with literary greatness and deservedly so, however at the time of their death they may not have felt the sense of accomplishment that they had earned. With the possible exception of Milton the early 17th century authors were limited both in the ideas that they could legally express and in the career opportunities that they could pursue, these men Dryden, Locke and Milton paved the way for the later authors and the freedoms that they enjoyed. In all of their cases they came from modest middle class backgrounds and were educated with money earned by their merchant class parents. The leaders of their time sought them out for this very reason as it allowed them to more effectively communicate their point of view to the increasingly powerful middle class. Although the rulers who sought to use them for their skill in communication may have gained some temporary benefit from their services, it is all subsequent English speaking authors who have be nefited the most from their labors in that they do not have to chain themselves to the prevailing sentiment in society to be heard.

Causes of the Dust Bowl Essay

One of the most devastating environmental crises that occurred in the United States was the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl began shortly after the Great Depression began in 1929 and lasted throughout the 1930’s. It affected everyone, farmers and consumers alike, in its path negatively. The Dust Bowl of the 1930’s was caused by four major factors: drought, climate misconception, poor land management, and most importantly, wind erosion. The first of the four major factors is drought. During the Dust Bowl and the 1930’s there were four major periods of drought. The first lasted from 1930 to 1931, the second occurred in 1934, the third in 1936, and the last period of drought lasted from 1939 to 1940. The Great Plains had experienced periods of drought before and no major problems had occurred, so the main problem was that the farmers did not have enough time in between the periods of drought to recover because they were so close together. Another issue was that the droughts occurred at the same time as the economic downfall known as the Great Depression. This meant the farmers did not have the money to spend to help their crops. Also, many farmers simply believed that the droughts would end and that the rains would come soon as they had many other times in the 1900’s (Drought). Climate misconception played a large role in the creation of the Dust Bowl as well. The misconceptions about the climate and the annual rainfall in the Great Plains first began in the nineteenth century when people first began to settle in the area. Many of these settlers believed that they would always get enough rain to grow healthy crops because they settled on the land during years with abnormally high amounts of rain. Another reason people believed that the land would always be good to farm is because they were fed propaganda by railroad companies and land boosters. Even though there were several periods of drought that occurred before the 1930’s and the Dust Bowl, people were encouraged by the rains that always came soon after. The farmers’ misconceptions of the climate and annual rainfall also affected the way they farmed the land (Causes). Poor land management is one of the two most important causes of the Dust Bowl. The farmers were not able to manage their land well because they were not aware of the different techniques they should have used on their farms in the Plains. One of the techniques that the farmers should have used was crop rotation. Crop rotation would have been a great help in keeping their soil in larger clumps, whereas when the farmers repeatedly planted wheat in the soil, the nutrients were used up and were not replenished. This caused the soil to break up into a dust-like consistency that made the soil easier to be swept away by the winds. Farmers also should have had a year round ground cover on the soil to prevent the wind from sweeping it away, but the farmers were not aware of the heightened risk of wind erosion because they had not had to deal with it in the past. The last technique that the farmers should have used to help manage their land is known as shelter belting. Shelter belting is the process of planting trees and bushes in order to slow and block the winds that blew across the otherwise flat ground of the Great Plains. Another issue with the way the farmers managed their land was that they switched from the lister (a type of plow commonly used by farmers in the 1900’s) to the one way disk plow. The one way disk plow was favored by the farmers because it made plowing the field easier and much faster, but the downside to the new invention was that it left the soil even more susceptible to wind erosion (The Dust Bowl). The last factor that contributed to the Dust Bowl is wind erosion. Wind erosion is considered to be the most important and the most preventable cause of the environmental crises. It has since been proven that the size of the farm is directly related to the amount of wind erosion that will occur on the land. Experts say that the smaller the farm is the more wind erosion there will be on the land because larger farms are necessary to finance and benefit from erosion control. Small farmers on the other hand need to cultivate more of their land more intensely and they usually do not earn enough money to be able to spend anything on soil conservation. Many historians and researchers blame the overabundance of small farmers who did not participate in erosion control for the extent of the wind erosion during the 1930’s and they blame the Homestead Act of 1862 for bringing these farmers to the Plains. The Homestead Act gave away hundreds of thousands of  land plots that ranged from about 160 acres to about 320 acres even though agricultural experts recommended that the farms should be about 700 acres to 1200 acres to minimize wind erosion. The farmers that moved onto the land that was given away were the kind of farmers that did not implement the soil conservation tactics that were necessary to prevent the Dust Bowl in the Great Plains (Wind Erosion). In conclusion, drought, climate misconceptions, poor land management, and wind erosion were the four main causes of the agricultural tragedy of the 1930’s. These four factors came together at the beginning of the 1930’s to create what is now known as the Dust Bowl which lasted until the end of the decade. Thankfully, an environmental crisis like this has never taken place again in the United States and thanks to the organizations founded after the Dust Bowl, such as the Soil Conservation Service, our generation and the generations that follow will not have to live through the hardships that another Dust Bowl would cause.

Consent An Definition Of Consent - 1347 Words

INTRODUCTION Consent is a highly discussed topic amongst all working fields within Australia. Consent is the art of agreeing this can be portrayed in three different ways; implied, verbal or written. Implied consent is often given for simple or routine procedures with common knowledge and a broad understanding of the procedure, implied consent is often conveyed by actions. Verbal consent is expressed verbally. Finally written consent is provided in writing and is the most common kind of consent and this is used as documentary evidence. All elements of consent have to be made to become valid this includes; voluntary decision, correct and comprehensive information regarding conditions and treatments, decision must relate to the specific treatment being provided and finally the person whom is giving consent has the capacity to do so. Autonomy is something that is often closely related to consent and this is respecting the privacy and rights of others to choose, protecting confidential information, o btaining consent for interventions and providing accurate advice. Everyman’s person being sacred, and no other having a right to meddle with it, in any the slightest manner (Fray, Spar, Yale Law School, 1996). Ethical and legal complications arise when autonomy and consent are not properly applied. This case study will identify legal issues including the notion of consent and ethical issues mentioned in the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights in the case of Bruce.Show MoreRelatedVarying Definitions of Consensual Sex1065 Words   |  5 PagesVarying Definitions of Consensual Sex and Their Effects on College Students Kyla McGirr Eastern Kentucky University Abstract One of the greatest issues, by far, with our society today is the struggle with consensual sex, and what the boundaries for sexual relations between a male and a female are. What exactly is sexual consent and should it be given before not only sex involving penetration, but so many other kindsRead MoreSexual Misconduct Policies Or Completely Changed It?701 Words   |  3 Pages Over the years, different universities across the country has either modified their sexual misconduct policies or completely changed it. 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But one of the exceptions to these general rules of transfer of property is when with the consent of the real owner , a person transfers the property in the name of other where the purchaser has reasonably ascertained the validity of the title of the land and has purchased it in good faith. This ground of exception was found in in Ram CoomarRead MoreDilemma Of Informed Consent1592 Words   |  7 Pagesremain unknown because informed consent was not previously required.   Ã‚  The main dilemma between informed consent and scientists lies within the ethics and practicality of research on tissue removed from a patient’s body for surgical purposes.   Ã‚  Meanwhile, the tissues are studied in labs across the country.   In recent years, the HeLa cell line and the cells backstory have precipitated outrage towards how the tissue was obtained, managed, and the inadequacy of informed consent from Henrietta Lacks and herRead MoreElements of Informed Consent in Medical Ethics997 Words   |  4 PagesElements of informed Consent Consent can be defined as permission granted by a person legally capable does so, to receive medical treatment. Medical, legal, psychological, regulatory and philosophical literatures have tried to analyze informed consent in terms of its elements. Some elements have been identified as fundamental to the concept; they include comprehension, voluntariness, disclosure, competence and consent. These elements imply that a person gives and informed consent if the person is competentRead MoreSuccesses and Failures of Sexual Offences Act 2003 Essay965 Words   |  4 Pages THE ISSUE OF CONSENT In acknowledgement of the particular difficulties involved in the prosecution of rape cases and the consequent poor conviction rates, a central alteration in the law on sexual offences concerned the meaning of consent and the manner in which it should be established in a court of law. Previously, the Sexual Offences Act 1956 had specified that guilt in rape could be established only if there was knowledge of the absence of consent or recklessnessRead MoreLegal And Ethical Roles Of The Nurse923 Words   |  4 Pagesand ethical roles of the nurse that is relevant to this statement: â€Å"You must ensure that you gain consent before you begin any treatment or care† and â€Å"uphold people’s rights to be fully involved in decisions about their care.† â€Å"Consent to any medical or surgical intervention is a legal arrangement on the notion of a contract between two equal parties.† (Edwards, 2008) The legal validity of consent relies on three components: informed, voluntary and capacity. (NHS, 2014) A nurse’s professional accountability