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Morality
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What is Morality?

Morality is the study of what makes actions right or wrong, and how individuals and societies determine ethical standards for behavior. It appears across philosophy, literature, political science, religious studies, and the humanities broadly, making it one of the most cross-disciplinary subjects students encounter. Academic interest in morality stems from its direct relevance to human decision-making, social organization, and questions of justice — issues that resist simple answers and demand careful reasoning. Frameworks like Bentham's principle of utility provide concrete starting points for evaluating whether actions serve the greater good, while literary works from Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde and Mary Shelley raise moral questions through character and narrative.

The papers archived on this topic reflect a wide range of approaches. Literary analysis dominates a significant portion, with writers examining moral ambiguity in figures such as Frankenstein's daemon and Shakespeare's Richard, or tracing visions of morality across multiple literary genres and historical periods like the Victorian era. Comparative and historical approaches appear as well, including examinations of ancient Greek and Roman moral frameworks and the contrasting ethics found in political thought like Machiavelli's The Prince. Some essays take a policy or social angle, analyzing contested moral questions around issues such as same-sex marriage or market ethics.

A strong essay on morality requires a focused, arguable thesis rather than a broad survey of what different thinkers believe. Evidence drawn from primary texts, historical examples, or clearly defined philosophical frameworks carries the most weight. The most common pitfall is conflating personal opinion with reasoned argument — effective moral analysis requires showing why a position holds up under scrutiny, not simply asserting that certain actions are right or wrong.

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Paper Masters
Robert G. Edwards' in vitro fertilization and embryo personhood ethics
In 2010, developer of conception outside the human body technology, Robert G. Edwards, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (Kolata). This open act of global recognition might be perceived as general acclaim for assisted reproductive technologies, which secure biologically inapt couples' reproduction by producing genetically related children for infertile parents, in conditions external to the human body. The present work is aimed at providing an insight into in vitro fertilization, dealing with the ethical aspects relevant to it with a special focus on personhood, and adopting an ethical stance regarding the extent to which this practice is permissible.
Research Paper Doctorate
Realism and moral ambiguity in Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest
Realism in an American, Fictional story of Detection -- Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest
Paper High School
Ethical dilemmas of affirmative action in the workplace
¶ … person has to make decisions based upon logic and their individual sense of morality. Sometimes, difficult decisions have to be made either at the home or in the workplace. When such occasions arise, the person must…
Essay Doctorate
Ethical standards and challenges in modern computer crimes
The study is based on the topic of ethical consideration in computer crimes. The rapid expansion of computer technology has resulted in an extremely sensitive issue of computer crimes. The ethical standards that are applied in other fields cannot be applied to the field of computer technology therefore the paper has discussed various aspects that are crucial for the understanding of the topic.
Paper Doctorate
Corporate ethics codes and their effectiveness in practice
The essay is on business ethics. Both government and company have formulated policies to implement and maintain ethical behavior. The questions is whether these policies work and are kept. Many observers see a disassociation between the company requirements and actual company behavior. Others however perceive the intransigence and strictness of laws such as the SOX to be sufficient to keep the company in control. No company wants to be bankrupt or run into trouble with the government. Debate therefore varies between whether or not ethical codes can build a true corporate ethics.
Research Paper Doctorate
Marx's theory of poverty and class struggle in capitalist economies
Poverty and the eternal struggle of the working class is a concept that has been debated for centuries. The reasons given for the existence of poverty have ranged through the years from the result of a character flaw in…
Research Paper Doctorate
Islamic radicalism and political reform in the Gulf states
The Peninsula states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Oman are under growing pressure from outspoken critics who use the language and authority of Islam in these…
Paper Masters
Richard Overy's argument for Allied moral superiority in World War II
Book review, four pages in length, on Overy, Richard. Why the Allies Won. W.W. Norton & Co., 1997. The book is about why the allies won world war two and reframes the war. The essay has a clear thesis statement but also offers some personal opinion at the end. The thesis is that Richard Overy believes that it was moral cohesion that helped the allies win. The author also believes the the eastern front was the most important.
Paper High School
H.L.A. Hart's critique of strict legal positivism and modern moral overlap
HLA Hart and Modern Legal Positivism H.L.A. Hart is a famous legal thinker who examined Positivism and Utilitarianism. Hart is noted for thoughts that modernized the thinking of positivists and specifically utilitarians. The key concept of "Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals" is that sometimes law intersects with morality. For example, until people become like giant land crabs with shells that cannot be penetrated and who can get their food from the air and not be harmed by others, there must be laws against violence and setting basic property rights. Hart believes that those laws "intersect" with morality and every legal system has laws like that. Hart believes that the old positivists, who saw law that is completely separate from law that ought to be, were mistaken. Hart also specifically examined the Utilitarianism of Austin and Bentham. Austin and Bentham were both Utilitarians. They believed in no connection between the law that is and the law that ought to be and that it is only a coincidence if legal rights and moral rights are connected. At the same time: Austin believed that if a human law conflicts with divine law, then the human law is not really a law and does not need to be obeyed; Bentham believed the same thing but did not use God or the divine; he used utilitarian principles instead. Because they were Utilitarians, Austin and Bentham believed in a social philosophy of liberalism in law and government, reform, and control of power because even reformers might corrupt the law. Hart admired the simplicity of Austin and Bentham but disagreed with the severe way they separated the law that is from the law that ought to be. Hart says that sometimes there is an intersection between laws and morals. Hart also criticizes their belief that law is essentially a command from a sovereign that is habitually obeyed because they can command obedience but do not need to obey. Hart says that the law does not work that way: legislators do not hold office long enough to be habitually obeyed sovereigns; the laws passed by the legislature must still obey fundamental rules.
Essay Doctorate
The Roe v. Wade decision and its impact on abortion policy
This work in writing is a policy paper on abortion that examines the history of abortion policy and how abortion policy is politically, economically and socially impacted. The reasons for abortion policy as they stand are examined and the transitions that abortion policy has gone through historically in the United States.