Importance of Choice

I disagree with Aristotle's idea that a person's desires must be congruent to their reason in order for them to be truly virtuous. He says that desires are formed by habits, which are formed by how your parents raised you. So according to his ethical system, a person's ability to be virtuous is entirely dependent upon their parents.

This denies the possibility of choice, which I reject on the most visceral level. A person's childhood has an undeniable effect on their adult self, but no matter what environmental factors, or parental actions influenced a person's development, there is always, ultimately, a choice involved in every decision they make. This includes the choice to be virtuous. Therefore, while circumstances can alter the level of responsibility for a decision, they can never remove it completely. A person is ultimately responsible for themselves and every decision they make, no matter how terrific of terrible their childhood was.

Multiple Truths

Growing up, we are all taught the dos and don’ts of society. We develop our own set of morals while still answering to a larger moral code set up by society. What I mean by this is that we have one set of rules set up by the government and community that tell us that we cannot go around killing people or that stealing is wrong. But throughout life we also develop our own set of guidelines and beliefs that we follow.

All of these beliefs and morals are relative to the culture in which someone is raised and exposed to. For example, we have internalized that stealing is wrong, yet a band of gypsies in Europe see it as something that should be rewarded. Morals and Ethics are all relative. I believe that there are multiple truths. Just because what one person believes is different from your own does not mean it is not true, it is just not what you believe. It’s kind of like religion. We all believe in a different god or gods but I don’t think that makes their reality any less true.

Ethics, Equality, and Authority

When discussing ethics, the question of whether we should treat all people equally or should we behave differently with people close to us? For some unexplained reason this question lingered in my mind for days as I attempted to understand everything that it was saying.

Treating people equally ranges from the Civil Rights, the Feminist movement, the treatment of friends, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and the list can go on and on. All of these things are pushing for equal treatment. In the scope of friendship and family, equal treatment seems to sway back and forth based with each person.

Friendships are based off of treatment in some cases. Usually friendships are based on equality; no one holds the upper hand or more power, and when that does occur friendships may turn a little bit rocky as they try to fix the problem at hand and return to a normal friendship. One without constraints.

Now when talking about family, the line of equality may become strained. Many times family relationships are often strong friendships as well. When dealing with cousins and siblings close to the same age the equality is generally not an issue. Moving from that relative age, to dealing with aunts, uncles, your parents, and grandparents, authority becomes a key player. And with authority, equality is not always present.

To answer the question posed from ethics; I agree that all people should be treated and treat each other with equality, but when authority plays a role in the relationship I think that equality is hard to attain, at least completely

Awesome Ethics

I enjoyed the lecture about ethics. Our lives are constantly influenced by ethics. We encounter them on a day to day basis. A lot of people often associate ethics with politics. Ethics are a big part of politics, but they are so much more. Ethics can be anything. They help you decide what to do every day.

I think that ethics really help you with your happiness, and happiness makes you happy of course! Everyone is always in a much better mood when they are happy! There are lots of different groups that ethics can be divided into. I think that each person is right to an extent. Ethics are not necessarily the same for every single person; they are a set of individual beliefs. My ethics are not the same as my roommates, and probably will never be. Your ethics are a product of many factors such as: family, religion, and the place you were raised. Ethics are tricky to define because of that very reason.

Ethics are a vital part of the human world. It is what keeps us from murdering and raping everyone. I do not think that ethics should necessarily be classified. Does it really matter where you think ethics are from?