Ethical Relativism Essays (Examples)

Ethical elativism
Allen Bloom wrote one of the most controversial books of the late-20th Century, in which he denounced the demise of the core curriculum at elite U.S. universities and it replacement by what he considered to be a vague sort of postmodern relativism from the 1960s onward. As he understood it, this new liberal worldview held that no cultures could be morally superior to any others and that anyone who believed the Western world might be were simply absolutists and ideologues whose worldview led to "wars, persecutions, slavery, xenophobia, racism and chauvinism" (Bloom 1990, p. 568). Students arrived at the university having been thoroughly trained and indoctrinated in these relativistic ideas, in which the only sin was to be ethnocentric or prejudiced. Without knowing it, they were under the influence of modern liberal and progressive philosophers like John Dewey, John awls and John Stuart Mill, who regarded intolerance and prejudice…

moral relativism in business want to design a car. The car needs to be light weight, and at the same time powerful, safe, and fuel efficient. As my engineer works at his drawing board, the results of field tests and mathematic equations come back that conclude it is impossible for a vehicle to be all of these things. Sacrificing weight to gain fuel efficiency decreases power and safety. Making a more powerful vehicle by increasing horsepower requires larger components, and a more substantial frame to mount the power plant. As a result the fuel efficiency is decreased significantly.
Then one day, my engineer came with a wonderful suggestion. We needed to change the physical laws of gravity, Newton's laws of motion, and the coeffiecnt of wind resistance. Then the forces which are keeping the car from being light weight, powerful, safe and fuel efficient would be modified in such a was…

The fact that the video went on Youtube is not correct, but in the end we must value if this harmed the woman's image or not. Looking at the recording we notice that the face of the woman is not visible. One can not even tell if it is a woman or a girl, since the camera was too far in order to record details. This means that it was impossible to know the identity of the person who fell. Taking this into consideration, it is safe to say that there was no damage even after the video became viral.
Did something bad happen? The incident was unusual, falling into a fountain is not something one would expect. The woman must have been a bit scared and also ashamed. It is true that it would have been nice to have someone ask her if she was ok and perhaps offer…

But ultimately, in practice, relativism in action is saying that no system of ethics has been valid for all time, and relativism and subjectivism are constantly evolving in creative dialogue with history and other circumstances. For example, perhaps a long time ago, a division of labor between the sexes made sense, when brute force was necessary for survival, to catch game and to defend cities, and when women had to spend a large portion of their lives bearing children. However, now that technology is responsible for so much of obtaining food and defending the nation, and the more psychological care of fewer children can better be accomplished through the participation of both parents, such a gendered division of labor is inefficient and makes poorer use of human resources, even from an objective point-of-view. And relativism allows the subjective feels of women who feel their talents are underused to be…

The main concern in virtue ethics becomes about a person's moral character. When people choose to develop their moral character, better virtues will be created, and thus there will be more people acting in virtuous ways in all aspects of their lives -- and this includes how they treat all animals.
One example to be considered when thinking about how a person with a strong sense of virtue might behave is to counter it with how a person with a strong sense of duty might behave. From a duty sense, if one were a livestock farmer, he or she might believe that his or her duty lies in what is best for the people because, after all, the job is about raising livestock for slaughter, which will then become food for people. Therefore, the first duty would be to humans and the second duty to animals (Panaman 20008) (which may…

Ethical Subjectivsim
Ethical subjectivism

Ethical subjectivism could also be called 'relativism,' or the notion that there is no external, objective moral authority. We as humans create our ethical norms, and ethics are culturally contextual. Ethical subjectivism stands in contrast to objectivism, which holds that there are objective moral standards by which all moral actions should be judged. "Moral statements are made true or false by the attitudes and/or conventions of the observers, and any ethical sentence just implies an attitude, opinion, personal preference or feeling held by someone" (Ethical subjectivism, 2012, Philosophy Basics).

A good example of this can be seen in the pragmatic philosophy of William James. In his Varieties of eligious Experience, James argued that all faiths were effectively divided into two categories: that of the 'religion of healthy-mindedness' and the 'sick soul. "We have all known or met people who seem happy all the time, who are convinced of the…

The Vietnam War was a turning point in the Army's growing realization that senior military leaders, and not just political leaders, had a responsibility to be able to speak to soldiers, to the American people, and to the press about ethical issues.
The Professionalism Study of 1970, examined institutional systems and requirements for success in the Army, attitudes and values of senior officers, and tasks for the 1970s. One of the striking conclusions of the first study was that the Army contained "untoward and unhealthy pressures to strive for success" on the part of officers. Systems that regulated the selection, education, promotion, and reward of Army officers were in need of major correction.

It was clear that the Army needed to evaluate its concepts of values and ethics.

During the decades of the 1970s and 1980s senior commanders in all the services began to exert their influence on the direction and content…

These are ethics that know no cultural bounds. hat is perceived as ethical in one society as well as any other is an example of a natural law. These are typically based on the human desire for equality as well as the desire to do good ("hat is Natural Law?"). Furthermore, natural rights evolve legally from natural laws often. They also often see an intertwining of religious beliefs, although they can also be expressed as more an intertwining of moral beliefs that are then supported by religion. The primary weakness of natural law theory is that it is sometimes difficult to determine if a belief is truly universal, or simply cultural.
Virtue Ethics:

Virtue ethics determines whether an action is right or wrong by the virtue of the action.

Virtue ethics is currently one of three major approaches in normative ethics. It may, initially, be identified as the one that emphasizes the…

Other less formal societal virtues may not be controlled by the state, but violation of social norms may often result in social rejection and other spontaneous negative consequences in public. For example, Jews and Muslims do not eat pork products or shellfish, Hindus do not eat cows, and in the United States, dogs and cats are considered pets exclusively, and rats considered filthy vermin; none of them are eaten. In many parts of India, cows are considered sacred and (depending on which particular society) rats are either revered and pampered in religious temples or trapped in large numbers for food. In many parts of the U.S., transvestites are considered social deviants; in parts of Indochina, they are celebrated.
The Argument for Objective Virtue:

Aristotle believed in universal truths, although he wrote less about exactly what virtues in particular emanate from those truths. Objective virtues are those that relate in some very…

Ethical Analysis #2
Nursing Issue/Dilemma

Nurses face dilemmas of an ethical nature on a regular basis. This effectively means that from time to time, nurses are called upon make ethical decisions -- decisions that could have a huge impact on the well-being of patients. One of the current ethical issues being faced by nurses is whether or not to lie to patients. ecently, it was revealed that psychiatrists and nurses caring for dementia patients were actively practicing what Williams (2013) refers to as "therapeutic lying" in an attempt to keep the said patients happy. As a matter of fact 98% of nurses, as William further points out, admitted to lying to dementia patients. The question that ought to be answered in this case is; should nurses withhold some potentially upsetting information about diseases that happen to be life-threatening?

B. Ethical Principles and Theories at Issue

The ethical principles at work in this case are…

Ethical treatment of prisoners is a complex question, involving the nature of the prison system in the U.S. And the nature of those incarcerated in it, as well as ethical obligations that individuals owe to society as well as those that society owes to those who are imprisoned. Deontological ethics might hold, for example, that those who have violated the law and the basic moral norms of society deserve to be punished but at the same time even those convicted and imprisoned have certain basic human rights. For example, they have the right to food, clothing, shelter and medical care, and cannot be tortured, abused or brutalized. Another problem from a deontological perspective would be to criticize a society where blacks and Hispanics are a minority of the population but also the majority of the prison population, including those on death row. Indeed, they are more likely to be profiled,…

Ethical Treatment of Prisoners
The treatment of a society's prisoners has been an issue of debate for centuries. The emotions surrounding such treatment are considerable and reaching a consensus on the best and fairest method is often difficult. Torture is considered illegal in most civilized societies and, therefore, in order to maintain an acceptable level of treatment an alternative and more humane approach must be established (Filter, 2000).

There presently exist two leading schools of moral thought: utilitarianism and deontology (Gibbs, 1977). Despite what has been characterized as great differences between the two schools they seem to agree on most substantive issues.

Utilitarianism argues that the right action is the one, out those available, that maximizes one's total happiness. In the prisoner treatment situation this results in considering the emotional pain, physical discomfort, expense, and time involved in housing the prisoner against the advantages garnered by society such as retribution, justice, removing bad…

elativism and Mortality
Goodman and elativism

For centuries, philosophers have debated the nature of our ethics and laws. Many have seen them as a relative concept, under the structure of relativism, where there is no universal foundation for the structure of ethics and law because individual societies differ so dramatically and should have their own ethical structures relative to their unique needs and structures. However, Lenn E. Goodman tends to disagree with this concept as seen in contemporary practice, stating that such a philosophy leaves the environment too open for interpretation and impractical for modern use, and as such some concepts within in relativism are simply off track.

elativism is a concept within philosophy and ethics that asserts there is no specific universal truth or need. ather, as each society varies, so do its own unique truths and needs. In this regard, the ethics, laws, and assertions within each society should vary in…

Descartes and Relativism
How might a philosopher such as Descartes reply to epistemic relativists such as Barnes and Bloor?

Philosophers who prescribe to the concept of moral and ethical relativism believed that right and wrong choices of any given situation are merely socially constructed and that what people decide fit into either of these categories is determined by the society in which the person lives. Philosophers through the ages have continually disagreed about the fundamental reasoning behind why people behave in the ways that they do. Relativists believe completely that moral standards and thus what constitutes ethical behaviors are relative in that they are socially constructed. What may be appropriate in one culture will not be considered moral or ethical in another social setting.

Descartes' most famous quotation "I think therefore I am" began the trend of philosophers to question truth and whether or not it even exists at all. This is the…

One relativistic belief that I find that some people hold is regarding abortion. Some people say, “Well, I would never have one,” implying that there is something immoral or unjustified about the action (at least in their case), and then they will follow that up with a statement like, “But I don’t think other people should be denied the right to have one,” suggesting that there is in fact nothing immoral or unjustifiable about it. This appears to me to be a case of, “What’s not good for me is not necessarily bad for you.” While some philosophers, like Kant, might argue that relativism is part of understanding how morality must be viewed in individual cases, other philosophers will suggest that just as there is a subjective side to judgment there is also an objective side to judgment and that some actions can be judged objectively as immoral, even if…

Western Ethical Theories
The objective of this work is to examine Western Ethical theories including teleological, deontological, natural law, and interest view and virtue ethics.

The work of Bennett-Woods (2005) states that while the words 'ethics' and 'morality' are "often used interchangeably, morality is more precisely used to refer to the customs, principles of conduct and moral codes of an individual, group or society." Ethics, is also stated to be termed "moral philosophy of the science of morals" and is the branch of philosophy that examines "morality through the critical examination of right and wrong in human action." (Bennett-Woods, 2005)

The study of ethics is generally characterized into three specific domains of study include those of: (1) metaethics which is related to the nature of right and wrong insofar as the where and how of the original of ethical judgments and what these judgments mean regarding the human nature and behavior; (2) Normative…

Utilitarianism is a consequentialist ethical framework. The consequences of an action are more important than the motivations behind the action or the action itself. An action has "utility" if it serves the greatest good. The basic principle of utilitarianism is creating the greatest good for the greatest number of people, or the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. The ethics of utilitarianism differ from ethical egoism in that the individual may make a sacrifice for the common good because it is the aggregate of happiness/goodness that matters, not maximizing individual happiness. Central to utilitarianism is the belief that all people are inherently equal and of equal consideration when making ethical decisions (p. 55). John Stuart Mill outlined the core tenets of utilitarianism, which became a fundamental component of Enlightenment political philosophy. Another utilitarian philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, proposed a happiness calculus that can be used to more rigorously apply…

Cruzan Case through a variety of medical ethical perspectives
The Consequentialist Paradigm

The ethical paradigm of consequentialism, as its name suggests, is the view that "normative properties," in other words, ethical actions in the world, should be judged upon and "depend only" upon their resultant consequences. (Sinnott-Armstrong, 2003) The Nancy Cruzan case is famous legal a 'right to die' case whereby, after Nancy Cruzan was almost killed in a car crash, "years later, Cruzan's parents wanted to withdraw the artificial hydration and nutrition that kept their daughter alive," whom was deemed 'brain dead' or in a permanent vegetative state, at the time (Healthcare ethics, 2004)

The general approach of consequentialist ethics could be applied in this case regarding the moral rightness of acts, holding that "whether an act is morally right depends only on the consequences of that act or of something related to that act (such as the motive behind the…

Absolution vs. Relativism
Columnist illiam ineke points out that the real problem with relativism is that it gives no place to stop the slippery slide, no place to stand and say "no" (ineke pp). In other words, each step taken simply makes it easier to take the next step until, eventually, society finds no logical basis for saying "no" to anything (ineke pp). Yet, if the error of moral relativism is that it provides society with no real basis on which to say "no," then the error of objective morality is that it provides no real basis on which to say "yes" (ineke pp).

ineke uses the example of AIDS in Africa, citing Vatican ambassador to Zambia, Archbishop Orlando Antonini, who said "The use of condoms still constitutes a false solution to a real problem, although it is a burning issue in Africa" (ineke pp). However, ineke says, "millions of Africans are…

Similarly, when a member of society becomes too feeble to contribute, leaving them in the snow is deemed the proper solution. Both practices are deemed proper, as they increase the survival chances of the tribe as a whole. Thus, while another society may cringe at the idea of infanticide and leaving the elderly to die, Eskimo societies see the survival of the tribe as the paramount concern.
There are many examples throughout history illustrating the difficulty of judging other cultures by one's own ethical yardstick. Thus, instead of being preoccupied with questions of whose society is superior, moral relativists believe that all actions should be judged within their cultural context. An action such as infanticide, no matter how abhorrent it may seem, may then be an ethical action in a society that values collective survival over the rights of one individual.

Even if we are vaguely aware the clerk may be charged -- it is his or her mistake, we say to ourselves. We think we have absolute ethical standards, but we function on a case-by-case basis when making decisions in reality. Does this mean, however, that absolute ethical standards are required to weigh against the negative consequences of relativism? Firstly, these examples highlight the difficulty of living by absolute standards, and how if standards are too inflexible, they may result in no standards at all. Even religions with strict universal standards often must have a lay and clergy distinction because it is so impossible to live by the standards of the faith, 'perfectly' according to their anti-materialist rules. Abstinence-only sexual education that does not acknowledge deviations from 'perfect' behavior might be the most ineffective pregnancy prevention program of all.
Acknowledging the subjective and relativistic nature of ethical schemas does not…

agree with President Bush's ethical opposition to all human cloning? Should cloning only be used for therapeutic purposes or not at all? Does every person have the right to reproduction, even lesbians or gay men through the use of cloning? The paper will be in the first person narrative.
Human Cloning

The successful cloning of Dolly, an adult sheep in the recent past, can be seen as one of the biggest advancements in science today. And even more dramatic is the news of the world's first cloned baby Eve, as announced by Brigitte Boisselier (of Clonaid) led by a bunch of UFO worshippers who call themselves the Raelians. However, the dramatic achievement of human cloning has simultaneously raised many issues. Is it ethical to clone a human being? Is it religiously correct? Is it morally viable? Is it legally acceptable? Somehow, human cloning has become a major public issue with politicians,…

Con: This approach can be excessively rigid and fail to take into consideration social nuances

Neutral: Kant, the developer of the categorical imperative and the founding father of this ideology, saw his view as a kind of middle path -- he did not believe that all actions set moral laws for all time, but that some types of moral principles should remain inviolate.

Virtue ethics or human nature moral theory

Pro: This stresses the need to be a good person, to make good moral decisions. It focuses on the good that 'doing good' can provide both for the actor and the subject of moral decision-making.

Con: Good people, even when they believe they are doing the right thing, can engage in actions that have very negative moral consequences.

Neutral: Virtue ethics has come into prominence in recent decades, perhaps because of the increasing focus upon the 'self' in modern culture, and one's moral character being…

Ayer on the Nature of Ethical Judgments
Ayer makes a truly original and remarkable statement about moral judgments and ethical judgments which some scholars have summarized as a phenomenon called emotivism. ithin this theory, there is the belief that moral judgments aren't necessarily truthful; they're an expression of sentiments of approval or disapproval (Ayer). Thus, according to this construct saying something like murder, stealing, lying or cheating is "wrong" merely expresses how the speaker feels about it. But to say that something is "wrong" because the speaker doesn't necessarily like something, doesn't mean that the action described is wrong. The only truth exhibited is in the sentiments of the speaker. As Ayer explains, "[I]f I say to someone 'You acted wrongly in stealing that money', I am not stating anything more than if I had simply said, 'You stole that money.' In adding that this action is wrong, I am not…

Moral Community: A group in America that is clearly being marginalized politically and socially is the community of undocumented immigrants. An estimated 11.1 million immigrants are living and working in the United States, and notwithstanding that the U.S. Senate and the executive branch have passed a bill allowing undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, the Republicans resist supporting this legislation. Cultural relativism helps to understand why 11.1 million people are being denied the right to work towards citizenship. Cultural relativism: the beliefs of one culture (in this case, those immigrants that are not yet citizens) should also be understood by others (in this case conservatives don't relate to the cultural beliefs of immigrants and vice-versa). A conservative "moral argument" is that there are a limited amount of goods and jobs in the U.S. And immigrants take these away from citizens here legally, but cultural bias and racism also certainly play…

Ethics of Bioethics
To the prudent thinker and scholar, there is little doubt that right or wrong is certainly relative. Categorical imperatives and absolutes help people to understand theories and ideas. However, they have little pragmatic value in life as it exists. Erudition in the areas of moral relativism, moral absolutism, and moral objectivism certainly confirm the preceding thesis. Additionally, there are numerous examples found in different areas of life that confirm the conviction propagated in this paper as well.

The tenet of moral relativism certainly helps to buttress this conviction that right or wrong is simply relative. Some of the best examples of this fact are readily supplied by nature. In fact, basic bioethical thought into the food chain supports this viewpoint as well. The reality of life on this planet and as found within nature is that most organisms need to consume other organisms to survive. This fact is…

Ethics and Public Policy
Ethical Dilemma

This paper discusses the application of the major ethical theories of consequentialism (utilitarianism), deontology, and virtue ethics to a specific policy question, namely how to improve the nutrition of the nation's poor and to reduce the rise in food insecurity. It also discusses the implications of ethical theories such as determinism and moral relativism. First, the theory is discussed in the abstract, followed by an exposition of how the theory relates to real-world practice. The paper concludes with a more general reflection on the implications of ethical theories for public policy-makers. The specific merits of virtue ethics are stressed vs. The more extreme and polarizing views of deontology and consequentialism.

An ethical dilemma: Food insecurity

One of the dilemmas facing public policy-makers regarding food insecurity and the need to improve the diet of poor Americans is the balance between individual liberties and the need to collectively improve the…

We may act according to our personal principles, or we can act according to our common sense. I tend to use my common sense rather than personal prejudice when making ethical decisions.
Question 4:

My ethical reasoning entails that I would carefully consider any ethical issue before making a decision about it. One major limitation involved in this is the fact that others may perceive me as morally weak. A morally strong character tends to be one that is immediate in ethical decisions. I would therefore not be able to make immediate decisions such as those required of judges or surgeons.

It is therefore unlikely that I would thrive in a profession that is very clear and immediate with regard to its need for specific ethical decisions. I would be better in a profession that is not as dependent upon immediate decisions.

I do not believe that my ethical viewpoint limits me on…

Such differences may lead us to question whether there are any universal moral principles or whether morality is merely a matter of "cultural taste" (Velasquez, Andre, Shanks and Meyer: 1).
If there is no transcendent ethical or moral standard, then cultural relativists argue that culture becomes the ethical norm for determining whether an action is right or wrong. This ethical system is known as cultural relativism. Cultural relativism is the view that all ethical truth is relative to a specific culture. hatever a cultural group approves is considered right within that culture. Conversely, whatever a cultural group condemns is wrong (Relativism: 2).

The key to the doctrine of "cultural relativism" is that right and wrong can only be judged relative to a specified society. There is no ultimate standard of right and wrong by which to judge culture. Proponents of cultural relativism believe this cultural diversity proves that culture alone is…

Ethics
On the surface, both ethical relativism and ethical egotism are appealing theories. The ethical relativist avoids many of the problems that arise from encounters with different moral codes, and can help to eliminate some of the culture clashes and social problems inherent in the human condition. For example, when many esterners come into contact with Middle Eastern cultures such as that of Saudi Arabia, they are tempted to pass judgment on the status of women. However, ethical relativism holds that all moral systems are valid, that ethics cannot be absolute or imposed from without. Therefore, ethical relativism is closely connected with cultural relativism. Such a stance makes it easy for people to get along and to resist fighting. "Anything goes," and "live and let live" are in fact some of the basic hallmarks of a liberal democracy and to an extent ethical relativism should always be at least entertained. On…

morality is a concept involving humanity having a shared set of laws that makes people feel that certain activities should be condemned. This concept promotes the idea that normal humans have the tendency to agree on these respective laws and that they are able to identify conditions in which someone acts in disagreement to them. Individuals promoting this theory consider that there is a universal chain of insights making it possible for people to get actively involved in developing ethical legislations enabling everyone to acknowledge the fact that they can harm society and particular persons through performing immoral actions.
When discussing with regard to common morality in the context of ethical relativism, is would be safe to say that the two are opposing. Ethical relativism promotes the idea that morality is often the result of nurture rather than it being the result of nature. The two concepts are thus very…

OGANIZATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AT WOK: TECHNOLOGY & ETHICS
Organizational Behavior

Digital and information technology allows for new opportunities for education, including at the professional level. More and more, human resources use technology to assist in the modification and development of company culture. 21st century organizational leadership can be characterized by the realization that a clearly defined and strongly present organizational culture is key to success. Some of the most successful organizations are ones wherein their culture is adaptable and flexible. These same companies understand the importance and value of smooth transition and effective implementation of organizational change as well as promotion of organizational culture. Human esources is a department that is integral in the development and sustainment of the organizational culture. Human esources is additionally a depart that can facilitate organizational change(s). Human esources professionals should take the time to educate themselves and learn the ways in which technology can supplement their skills…

Ethics in Technology
There has been a rapidly increasing use of technology in the workplace, but while some technological advances have benefitted companies, other technologies have raised serious concerns about employee privacy.

Consequentialism and Privacy Abuses

One of the issues that arises often in the workplace when it comes to employee privacy and employer technological overreach is when employers use certain electronic surveillance practices (monitoring personal phone calls and voice messages) to basically eavesdrop on their employees (Findlaw). In fact personal privacy laws affirm that an employer may not monitor an employee's personal phone calls; albeit the company can monitor a personal call if the employee knows it is being monitored and agrees (Findlaw). One ethical theory that applies to this situation is the consequentialism, which posits that the consequence of an action determines its moral value.

One complicating aspect of this is that a manager may believe that it is moral from a…

Human esources
Managing Organisational Culture

The values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization make up the organizations culture. Organizational culture is the summation total of an organization's past and current suppositions, incidents, viewpoint, and values that hold it together, and is articulated in its self-image, inner workings, connections with the outside world, and future prospects.

In dealing with the management of organisational culture, it is firstly essential to recognize as fully as possible the characteristics of the existing or new target culture to include the myths, symbols, rituals, values and assumptions that strengthen the culture. Organisational culture is not something that can be viewed very easily it is consequently quite hard to replace it. Usually when certain leaders form a company, their values are converted into the actions of the members of that organisation. When other leaders take over, it may not be as easy…

Introduction Is it true that the "bottom line" of a business is profit and profit alone?  Perhaps it is for some companies, but the idea of the “triple bottom line” has been around for quite some time—and it refers not just to profits but also to people and planet. The triple bottom line has received renewed interest since the rise of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) which refers to a company’s advocacy of and support for the values important to the “social, environmental and economic environment in which” the company operates (Castka, Bamber & Sharp, 2005, p. vii). When companies fail to consider the triple bottom line—the impact of their business operations on people and the planet as well as on profits—then they fall into that group of companies condemned by Feldman (2012) in his Sunday Review letter: such corporations fail to appreciate “how their obsession with the bottom…

Ethics
number of differences exist between utilitarianism and relativism. The first difference has got to do with the parameters used to justify actions. To begin with, relativism, has got to do with the notion that moral principles as well as values correlate to cultures, places, times, or specific persons. In that regard, therefore, relativism does not consider the position that there are certain principles or moral values that are absolute as being correct. Ethical relativism, for instance, "is the view that there are no permanent, universal, objective values or standards" (Mizzoni, 2009, p. 11). ll morals could, in that regard, be justified on the basis of their acceptance by a culture or individual. Utilitarianism, on the other hand, regards actions as being right based on their utility or benefit to a greater number of people (i.e. The majority).

Yet another difference between the two ethical principles has got to do…

In Cultural Ethical elativism, Universalism, Absolutism (2005), it was mentioned that Kant said that people engage a particular space in creation and morality can be figured out in one supreme directive of reason or imperative that all responsibilities and duties drawn from; Kant described an imperative as any intention which asserts a particular act or inaction to be compulsory; a hypothetical imperative requires action in a particular condition: "if I wish to quench my thirst, I must drink something;" -- a categorical imperative, in contrast, indicates an absolute, unconditional obligation that states its influence in all conditions, both necessary as well as justified as an end in itself; and it is most recognized in its first expression: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

In Cultural Ethical elativism, Universalism, Absolutism (2005), it was stated that Kant expressed…

Diversity Education
The American workplace has become increasingly diverse, a reflection of the American urban environment. Diversity training serves a few different purposes in organizations. The first is that it promotes an atmosphere of tolerance in the company, but many scholars have also made a business case for diversity. Some earlier writings on the subject outlined that diversity training helps to resolve internal conflict, improve communication flows within the company, align the company better with its market, and can also help improve organizational creativity by introducing new ideas to organizations (Cox & Blake, 1991). Later writers noted that the effects of diversity were complex, something that should be reflected in the way that the organization trains for diversity (Milliken & Martins, 1996).

As awareness of diversity grows, and the case for diversity training increases, it is evident that more companies are including a diversity component in their training programs. Initially, diversity training…

eligion
Is Jesus the Only Savoir? Is onald H. Nash's opportunity to develop a passionate and well-developed argument answering yes: yes, Jesus is the only Savoir. However, Nash does not rest on the reader's understanding or experience of faith to make his case. The author takes a different approach, using logic and reason to explain that at least to a believer in Christ, there can be no other paradigm other than Christian absolutism. According to Nash, pluralism by its very definition violates the tenets inherent in the New Testament. It is therefore impossible for a theologian, especially a Christian one, to be a pluralist.

Nash's scapegoat, for better or worse, is John Hick. Hick is a theologian who has succumbed to the temptation of thinking pluralistically and who attempts to show that Jesus is in fact not the only savior. Nash picks apart Hick's argument by revealing the logical fallacies embedded within…

Ethics
A few months ago a friend approached me with a moral dilemma. She had witnessed a coworker stealing cash from her office. Although her first instinct was to rush and tell the supervisor what had occurred, she hesitated and consulted me beforehand. "This guy has four children. His wife died two years ago. He gets paid not much more than minimum wage and can barely make ends meet. I know that stealing is wrong, but at the same time I know that he is poor, and ... " I stopped her right there. What she was suggesting was to possibly ignore the stealing because the man's moral imperative was not toward his company but toward his family. Clearly my friend had a tendency to support what I have since learned to be called ethical relativism and like me, she might tend to believe in situational ethics.

I have always found ethical…

Legislating Morality
The ideas of Thomas Hobbes, the influential English philosopher who lived in the late 1500s to middle 1600s, are still considered important today. Hobbes is best remembered for his ideas on political philosophy. While Hobbes throughout his life championed the idea of absolutism for the sovereign he also is responsible for many of the fundamentals of Western political thought such as equality of men, individual rights, and the idea that all justifiable political power must be representative of the people (Edwards, 2002).

Hobbes also believed that human nature was such that people acted out of selfish-interests and if left to their own devices would do anything to get what they wanted or to acquire more power at the expense of others. Governments are then formed to shield people from their own selfishness; however he understood that even a King left unchecked would also act in a selfish manner at the…

Transaction Under Each of the Five Ethical Theories
Ethical fundamentalism:

Juanita's behavior is clearly in contravention of a normative code of ethics since each of the world's religions proscribe bribery. The Bible, for instance, as does the Koran goes on in depth about the severity of perverting justice and bring officials or any one involved in the jurisprudence sector.

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is somewhat stickier in application. If Juanita's behavior provides the greatest amount of people in her environment with pleasure, she can, consequently, proceed. Utilitarianism is, however, not so clear in this situation for how do you define and set the limits to providing happiness t o the greatest amount of people. Who are the majority in this case? Are they the employees in Giantcorp and the bribed official (as well as recipients who profit from the bribe)? Are they competitors to the company? Are they the specific country? Or are they all…

Organizational Ethics
Ethics

In life and in business, there are situations that challenge, question, and test an individual's set of personal and professional ethics. Ethics is a crucial element to sustain a society as well as an organization. This paper will discuss several issues regarding the practice of ethics and the practice of leadership within organizations. The kind of leadership an organization maintains and models for employees plays a significant role in the practice of ethical conduct within the organization as well as ethical conduct during business practices with parties outside of the organization, including suppliers and consumers. As part of this discussion, the paper identifies prominent issues regarding leadership ethics in organizations, factors that directly contribute to the practice or lack of ethics on the individual and organizational levels. With analysis and references to relevant texts, the paper proposes an ethical code for a fictitious company such that there is…

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Mr. Killian proceeded to show that the organization's corporate culture was in fact based on a culture of integrity. This includes, he mentioned, "a culture of transparency and a culture of proper interrelationship with our partners," in the sense that the Code of Conduct, for example, was made public in governmental records and on the company's website.

esides the actual existence of the Code of Conduct and its proliferation with the employees and shareholders, the company uses several other instruments to enforce a culture of ethics in the workplace. One of the means by which it does this is the Verizon usiness Ethics Line, where every employee can call and report an internal act that breeched the Code of Conduct or the ethical regulations within the company.

We asked Mr. Killian what the organization does that might be considered philanthropic and he gave us a relevant example in this sense. Verizon usiness…

.....men and women behind everything from public infrastructure to consumer product design, engineers have a distinct ethical obligation to uphold standards of safety. However, there is more to engineering ethics than the assurance that safety standards are met or exceeded. Engineers also need to ascribe to a policy resonant with corporate social responsibility: working in accordance with global values like environmental conservation and sustainability. Another key component of engineering ethics is related to the globalized nature of the work that engineers do: engineers frequently find themselves working in countries and cultures that are different from their own. The occasional conflicts that arise between local and home values may present unique ethnical conundrums that engineers can overcome with critical thinking and cultural awareness.
Safety

Safety is the most apparent of all ethical obligations place upon engineers throughout their careers. The first provision of the American Society of Civil Engineers, as with other engineering…

Seghers
Anna Segherss's memoir "The Outing of the Dead Schoolgirls" begins in Mexico, where the author reminisces about a defining incident in her life. Her memory is triggered by two symbols, the first of which is an innkeeper who was "staring motionless at the one thing that presented him with vast, insoluble problems: complete emptiness," (Seghers 614). Then, she hears someone call her by a name she had not heard since she was a schoolgirl. The memory thus triggered, Seghers delves into a traumatic past with courageous detail.

Seghers's narrative style is full of bitterness and tension that are appropriate for rendering the traumatic events described in the story. Repetition is one of the cornerstones of Seghers's writing style, as the author frequently alludes to Marianne's immanent betrayal of Leni: the central event of the story. Yet it is not just Marianne's betrayal of Leni that Seghers talks about. Marianne's betrayal of…

Yet Ana and her family also sought the intervention of traditional doctors or curanderos. The curandero provides services that a Western doctor cannot: the cleansing ceremony referred to in the case study is a perfect example of differences in attitudes toward health care. A healing ceremony performed by a curandero is not likely to harm the infant and in fact may prove beneficial at least to the parents' and family's peace of mind.
There can be no absolute ethical guidelines in health care except for the fact that health care workers are obliged always to treat patients with respect. espect entails sensitivity to cultural difference and to the norms that define attitudes towards health care. Health care workers may find that some patients require privacy and do not express emotions; whereas other patients are emotionally expressive to the point where they shock or disturb those around them. These issues should…

Ethics
The Divine Command theory of morality is known as a nonconsequentialist theory because this particular theory of morality is one that is not in any way based on the consequences or outcomes of specific action, but rather holds that all actions have any intrinsic rightness or wrongness. In the case of Divine Command Theory, rightness or wrongness is decided based upon whether or not a specific action can be said to be in accordance with the dictates of God. Indeed, while there are advantages to this idea of morality, such as the more simple categorization of actions into a dichotomy of what is permitted, there are also many sever disadvantages, as well. These disadvantages can make the view difficult to entertain. For example, one of the main issues depends on the source of the divine command. If the divine moral commands come out of scripture, for example, how can on…

Technology / Privacy / orkplace
There is a rapidly increasing use of technological monitoring in the workplace, and while technology in general has been highly beneficial to companies, the use of some technologies has raised privacy and ethical concerns among employees. This paper reviews the available literature when it comes to workplace monitoring of employees and the ethical implications of that monitoring.

Is Privacy in the orkplace a Dying Notion?

The right to privacy is a nice idea, and in some instances and circumstances in the United States an individual can reasonably expect to have his or her privacy respected. ebsites, for example, notify users frequently that their privacy is important and it is being protected. However, when it comes to the workplace, in an age of increased reliance on electronic technology, management has been able to "…monitor virtually all workplace communications" that employees have access to.

Findlaw asserts that while employees may believe…

William Styron's novel Sophie's Choice presents an almost unimaginably terrible moral dilemma to the reader. In the novel, the character Sophie and her two children are taken to the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-irkenau during the Nazi purge of the Jews. When entering the camp and being examined by an SS officer that is also a doctor, she tells the doctor that there has been a mistake, that she is not Jewish, but Catholic, and that she should be spared. Allegedly sympathizing with her, the doctor then allows Sophie a "reward," and her reward is to be able to save one of her children -- but she must choose which one is to be saved and which one is to die right there on the spot. There are several ways that one could ultimately view Sophie's decision to save Jan, her elder boy, such as using a Kantian, a utilitarian, or…

solid, sensible approach to philosophical inquiry. All thoughts and opinions are biased according to the person's point-of-view. Perspective shapes everything. Nietzsche affirmed the importance of perspective, which allows post-modern thinkers to realize the importance of ethical relativism. Perspectivism has provided the opportunity to acknowledge other worldviews. However, there are serious and significant limitations to the perspectivist approach and the moral relativism espoused by Nietzsche. For example, relativism has enabled the perpetuation of social injustice based on the notion that some cultures have different values than others. Female genital mutilation is an example of a practice that is harmful and cruel, but which is sometimes justified on the grounds that it is "culturally" relevant. In reality, culture is simply being used as an excuse to create social and political hierarchies. Culture is not valid in and of itself, because culture only provides the means by which to interpret the world.
Contrary…

Latin American woman who is interested in a cultural studies program. This has not changed, and in fact, this course has helped me to deepen my understanding of diversity and helped me to understand more about gender roles and norms from a cross-cultural perspective. I have learned that there are no universal constants, and that even within cultures there can be a great diversity of experience as we saw with Monday's Girls and the difference between Florence and Azikiye. Likewise, the differences between the rich and poor gay men in Manila shows how even within the same culture, there can be a great variety of experiences and points-of-view. The most difficult concept for me as I continue my studies will be cultural relativism or ethical relativism. It is difficult to withhold judgments, especially when we believe that a way of life or worldview is harmful. On the one hand,…

Multicultural therapies like ethnic family therapy recognize the multiple worldviews and diversity of values among clientele. Moreover, multicultural therapies avoid problems associated with decontextualization and the ignorance of politics and power structures in people's lives (Comas-Diaz, 2014). Therapists working in a diverse environment do need to develop cultural competence to serve their communities. Cultural competence requires self-awareness and recognition of one's own worldview, biases, and attitudes. Likewise, cultural competence leads to effective means of helping people whose worldviews and backgrounds are different from the therapist. Without branching too much into related social sciences like sociology, anthropology, and social work, multicultural psychological therapies do draw from other disciplines in order to form a more cohesive vision of cultural competence. No person develops in isolation of his or her culture or background. Therefore, it is critical to include dynamics of oppression, experiences of racism or stigma, issues related to the immigrant experience,…

Middle East comprises a diverse group of regions, countries, peoples, customs, and cultures. On the one hand, it is daunting to offer a semester-long course that treats all Middle Eastern issues with clarity and fairness. The risk of oversimplification, however, is outweighed by the risk of ignorance. This course will explore the Middle East with as much depth and breadth as possible, stimulating student thought on political, social, religious, historical, ethnographic, and economic issues related to the region. Included in the course rubric will be current events ranging from gender issues to terrorism. In between the heavier topics, lighter lessons on local customs, culture, music, and food will reveal the ordinariness of daily life in the part of the world we call the Middle East.
Islam will be covered from a multidisciplinary perspective, allowing for nuanced and rich class discussions about the unique interface between politics, religion, and social norms.…

Booker Prize-winning novel Amsterdam by Ian Mcewan is not really about euthanasia per se; it is about the twisted relationships between the two main characters, Clive Linley, composer, and Vernon Halliday, newspaper editor. Deeply affected by the death of their mutual friend and lover Molly Lane, Clive and Vernon agree that if they should ever exhibit the symptoms of some deadly illness, that they agree to assist the other in euthanasia. Thus, the two friends initially start out by presenting a view of euthanasia that is strongly ethical; euthanasia is a meaningful and sometimes even necessary means to alleviate unnecessary suffering. After all, life is already filled with enough suffering. Extension of life by a matter of days, weeks, or even years does not necessarily equate with promoting the values inherent to a good quality of life.
As the events of the novel progress, however, Vernon and Clive demonstrate that their…

But this should not be the main criteria for selecting and recruiting staff. The H recruitment and selection at Continental Airlines must seek to respond to quality standards imposed by the company.
The recruitment and selection process must follow a series of steps (Ivancevich & Glueck, 1986). Employees should be hired based on their skills, knowledge, and abilities (Kubr, 1992). Their aptitudes must match the requirements of each job, regardless of the minority they represent.

H outsourcing is an option that Continental Airlines should take into consideration. The main reason for outsourcing is represented by cost savings. Given the fact that customers demand higher quality for the services they purchase and more benefits, companies are forced to cut costs in areas like human resources. Aside from this, practice has shown that many companies apply off-shoring as a method of personnel recruitment and selection. The advantages of off-shoring include: lower wage costs,…

Unrecognized Genius of Jean Piaget
Kegan reflects on the work of Jean Piaget, emphasizing the importance of his work. He first looks at Kegan's most famous study, in which he fills two identically shaped beakers with equal amounts of water. He then asks the child whether or not they are of equal volume, and when the child agrees, he pours the contents into a thinner beaker. The child then has to decide which has more, and usually opts for the taller and thinner beaker. Kegan is pointing out the relative adaptive balance that is being made by the child. Children have their own perceptions of the physical world, and often have difficulty discerning relative differences in shapes and forms, among other things. Kegan purports that, "For the preoperational child, it is never just one's perceptions that change; rather, the world itself, as a consequence, changes" (29).

Kegan then goes on to explore…

Moral Objectivism to Moral Skepticism
(a) According to Kant, what is the difference between "a posteriori" knowledge and "a priori" knowledge? What kind of knowledge would the statement "All triangles have three sides" be? What about the statement "The 44th U.S. President is African-American"?

A posteriori knowledge is knowledge 'after the fact' or knowledge based upon experience, versus a priori knowledge, which is knowledge which can be based upon pure, deductive reasoning (Johnson 2014). The idea that all triangles by definition have three sides can be known a priori, based upon mathematical, deductive logic. However, the statement that the 44th U.S. President is an African-American requires experience to understand, given that the president's race (regardless of what that race might be) does not logically flow from the condition of being president.

(b) Upon a Utilitarian account, would the statement "The assassination of MLK was wrong" be an example of a priori knowledge…

Magdalene Sisters
Peter Mullan's 2002 movie The Magdalene Sisters depicts the dark side of Irish culture, church, and history. From the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century, the Sisters of Mercy in Ireland ran profitable asylums for women. The laundry businesses allowed the convents to earn money while keeping socially scorned women behind bars. Yet far from being a place of spiritual refuge, the Magdalene laundries often became torture houses closely resembling concentration camps. As Mullan shows, spirituality was completely superceded by cruelty, greed, torture, and manipulation. The brutality shown on screen reveals a chilling behind-the-scenes glimpse of what actually did occur regularly in Magdalene asylum laundries.

The culture that supported such institutions was an inherently sexist one, as many of the interred women committed no offense other than having shamed their families or being attractive. Although a fictionalized account, The Magdalene Sisters shows what mental and physical abuse generally occurred…

Ethical Issues Facing the Army Leadership Today
The United States military is facing a host of ethical issues today. A number of allegations in recent months regarding questionable ethical behavior -- as well as that which is decidedly unethical -- have afflicted nearly every segment of the armed forces including the Navy, Air Force, National Guard, and the Marines. Moreover, these instances of amoral and immoral behavior have also been widely reported in the media, which is affecting public perception of this branch of the country so that the public's view of Army leadership's unethical conduct is a snapshot of the ethical problems facing the Army today. Allegations have involved a host of offenses including bribery, cheating on examinations, sexual assaults, inebriation, drug use, unwarranted behavior in combat situations, and others. This paper will illustrate a number of different dimensions of this situation, including the need for ethics at both an…