Blog Assignment #4

Part One

1. Paragraph: explain in your own words what the relationship is between laws and ethics.

Laws and ethics are tightly related yet completely separate and unique different. The relationship they share is one where Ethics can exist without law however; law cannot exist without ethics as ethics are an underling part of law. Laws are created to enforce a particular ethical viewpoint that a group of people believe is in the best interest of the rest of society. Laws are a reflection of societies view point at a given spot in time. As time progresses so do the laws this is due to the driving ethical forces behind those laws alter with the shifting of ethical view.

2. Paragraph & Link: Find one online resources related to this topic—not Wikipedia. Explain in a brief paragraph what you learned about this topic through the resource you found; include the link at the end of your paragraph.

In this article the author describes how ethics and laws are intertwined and function together. However, the focus on ethics and laws as separate entity is very difficult. There are times in which laws that were based on ethical issues of one era no longer apply in another and the laws need to be revisited and updated to reflect the current ethical views. The debate behind the relationship of ethics and law has been around for centuries and will most like continue far into the future.

http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~mbernste/tae.ethics&law.herrera.html

3. Argument: Compose a short argument, in “argument elements” form. I’ll provide the arguable issue; you provide the rest. Make sure each of your premises is a complete sentence, and that your argument doesn’t break any of the rules listed in the first chapter of the Rulebook for Arguments:

Arguable Issue: The arguable issue is whether or not we need ethics, given that we already have laws.
Conclusion: We need ethics even though we already have laws.
Premises: We need ethics even though we already have laws because,
(1) Laws are derived from ethics and
(2) Laws are constantly changes due to altered ethical viewpoints and
(3) People tend to be bound by ethics more so than laws.


Part Two

The Role of the Majority View

1. Paragraph: Explain in your own words what a Majority View is. Cite your sources.

Majority view is when a portion greater than 50% agree upon an issue. Just because the greater portion agree doesn’t mean they are correct. This happens because a vast majority of the majority does not take the time to fully evaluate the subject prior to passing their vote. Although their intentions are to support what they believe in they lack the knowledge to do so. These individuals are driven by their “Gut” using their gut feeling is what they feel is the best resource needed to pass judgment. As mentioned in “Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues” the majority view at one point was women lacked the intelligence to vote, so they were not allowed to. This majority view has since become a minority view.

2. Argument: Compose a short argument, in “argument elements” form. I’ll provide the arguable issue; you provide the rest. Make sure each of your premises is a complete sentence, and that your argument doesn’t break any of the rules listed in the first chapter of the Rulebook for Arguments:

Arguable Issue: The arguable issue is whether or not the Majority View is a reliable basis for ethical decision-making.
Conclusion: The Majority view is not a reliable basis for ethical decision making.
Premises: The Majority view is not a reliable basis for ethical decision making because
(1) Even though everyone else says that it okay does not make it okay and
(2) The Majority view should not replace a persons own ethical views and
(3) Ethical decision is too important to just go unquestioned along with the majority view.

The Role of Feelings

1. Paragraph: Explain in your own words what feelings are. Cite your sources.
Every person has an internal sense that makes them happy or sad and this sense is what creates our feeling. These feeling help us determine what is right and wrong by how we react to the thought of an action. But just because one persons feelings say that an action is right, does it make the action right? In our reading “Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues” there is a mention where a boy causes mischief “because I felt like it”. If all of society accepted that we could do whatever we desired just because we felt like it would cause social chaos.


2. Argument: Compose a short argument, in “argument elements” form. I’ll provide the arguable issue; you provide the rest. Make sure each of your premises is a complete sentence, and that your argument doesn’t break any of the rules listed in the first chapter of the Rulebook for Arguments:

Arguable Issue: The arguable issue is whether or not our feelings are a reliable basis for ethical decision-making.
Conclusion: Feeling are not a reliable basis for ethical decision making.
Premises: Feeling are not a reliable basis for ethical decision making because
(1) An ethical decision may actually go against what makes us feel good and
(2) feelings can cause us to act irrationally and
(3) feelings of a individual do not always agree with the social ethical views.

Part Three

The ability to express yourself in your own words is essential in this class. Did you put everything in your own words this time?

I was very careful to interpret the reading and use my own words to answer the questions. With some of the questions I quoted the required reading and cited the title of the book used.

What was easiest / hardest about this assignment? Creating the arguments was the easiest part of this assignment.

I found that searching the internet to find information about ethics and law was difficult, I would find something I felt was relevant only to have it turn out to be totally useless.

How will you apply what you learned through this assignment to your everyday life?

I am hoping to apply this in two parts of my life. One is with my wife, we tend to have arguments and not the kind we are learning about in class actually they are not that bad. I would like to take a different approach to our everyday disagreements might add a little spice. The other is in my professional career when it comes time to discuss the pros and cons of a new proposal or project.

How well do you think you did on this assignment? Explain.

With all things considered I feel I did fairly well on this assignment. I was diligent to keep in mind the rules for the arguments and to refer back to the reading while answering the other questions as well as using quotes from the reading.