Jonathan Bennett Moral Analysis

Compassion is learned through experience and seeing those less fortunate; it brings out sympathy because one cannot ignore it when unfortunate people are everywhere.

Empathy is an innate trait that all humans have and it is the one that we most readily feel, while compassion is a feeling that must be acquired. Ascher astutely points out that “empathy is the mother of compassion” (par.13). In this noteworthy parallel, Ascher compares empathy to a nurturing mother and compassion to the fruit of her labor. Like a mother who has an inherent instinct to protect and teach her young, so too does one have an innate understanding and sensitivity to the feelings and experiences of another, and it is only from these life experiences that the birth of a new awareness is brought forth in the form of compassion. Similar to a mother’s tutelage, Ascher describes compassion as a “learned” behavior that allows one to consciously act upon the distress of others by actively alleviating it. According to Ascher, “Compassion is not a character trait like a sunny disposition. It must be learned, and it is learned by having adversity at our window…” (par.13). In other words, true compassion can only be learned when one is faced with it every day of ones life and that once it becomes “familiar”, only then it can become identifiable and conjure empathy.

According to the definition of the Moral Compass text, moral compass is the reflective, international adoption of values and behaviors as a framework for realizing the good in oneself, in others, and in the social and material environment. My own moral compass is constructed mainly by my parents and the eastern social values and principles of relationships, which are largely influenced by the thoughts and ideas of Buddhism, Taoism and the Confucianism. Among them, Confucianism affects my country’s social values and furthermore my parents and my moral compass the most. In the contrast of Western culture, Confucianism puts a huge emphasis on the relationships between individuals in family, school,

Sympathy is an extension of empathic concern, or the perception, understanding, and reaction to the distress or need of another human being. Sympathy must be given and received in order for the world to operate because all humans make mistakes that impact other people’s lives. The Reprimand is a short “phone play” written by Jane Anderson in 2000. The two characters, Rhona and Mim, have a confrontation about what Rhona believes to be an inappropriate remark during a meeting. In The Reprimand, Mim deserves the most sympathy from the audience because Rhona intentionally manipulates her into believing she is not respected by her male co-workers.

Ethics. More importantly, showing compassion and doing what’s right even if the majority is wrong. This is the idea that circles the book Thunderhead, by Neal Shusterman. In the book is a group of people called scythes that kill people to keep the population of the world under control, but are starting to lean toward killing with bias. Citria, a teenage girl and junior scythe, is trying to reinstate the time when scythes killed people with compassion and without bias.

Sympathy, another theme in this book, can have the same amount of impact on an individual.  Instead of it having a negative reaction to the reader it has a superior reaction to the reader.  ?Lee Chong? knew he could not have helped it, but he wished he might have known and perhaps tried to help.  It was deeply a part of Lee?s kindness and understanding that man?s right to kill himself is inviolable, but sometimes a friend can make it unnecessary?(Page 2).  Lee was having compassionate sentiments for the man who committed suicide.  He had a deep feeling that he could of helped in someway to convince the man that his life was worth living.  A side story that was important to the theme of Sympathy was a story about Mrs. Kitty Casini a mouse and Mary Talbot ?Kitty Casini had a mouse?Daintily she stabbed the mouse through the back and drew it wriggling to her and her tail flicked with tense delight? ?I can?t blame Kitty Casini? said Mary. ?I?m just not going to like her no matter how much I want to??(Pages 155-156).  Mary had intense sympathy for that mouse that with no doubt died a tragic death.  She went to the extreme of disliking on of her favorite cat.  Sympathy can bring about the good in people.  Sympathy for loved ones or strangers can surprise one for their intense emotions.

We believe that Gilligan’s distinction between a morality of care and a morality of justice is a distinction held in the minds of all human beings… However, these two senses of the word moral do not represent two different moral orientations existing at the same level of generality and validity. We see justice as both rational and implying an attitude of empathy. It is for this reason that we make the following proposal: i.e. that there is a dimension along which various moral dilemmas and orientations can be placed. Personal moral dilemmas and orientations of specials obligation, as we have just discussed them, represent one end of this dimension and the standard hypothetical justice dilemmas and justice orientation represent the other end (Kohlberg, Levine, and Hewer,

Sympathy or Savage We all seem that idea of the good and bad guys on the shoulder. When it comes to make a choice. Thinking about which side take or which is more effective. In “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping the Poor” by Garrett Hardin.

127). principles can be understood as a set of rules that one follows. For example, in the case of Himmler, he felt that it was very hard to implement any kind of policies while being sympathetic. In order to get rid of those sympathies he somewhat disregarded what his “principles” were and decided what one ought to do (Huckleberry, 1974, p.128). Principles do not necessarily give one a moral life but principles are good to have because they protect one from acting badly at moments when ones sympathies seem to take over (Huckleberry, 1974, p.132). For example, the scenario that was given by Bennett was a child not wanting to be seen by a doctor. If the mother acted based on her sympathies, she would neglect her child being checked out by the doctor because she felt sympathy towards her child. Ones principles should not overrule sympathies because sympathies are feelings or emotions that one obtains in a specific moment or situation. It is understood that feelings and what one should do morally may go in opposite directions (Huckleberry, 1974, p. 124). Therefore, in some situations, principles ought to overrule sympathies, and in other situations sympathies should overrule principles. Sometimes the moral thing to do, is in the opposite direction of what the rule or principal thing to

Sympathy differs from empathy, in that with empathy one experiences an objective understanding of what another person is feeling. For example, when a nurse is showing empathy, he/she accurately perceives and understands what the patient is feeling. On the other hand, sympathy is the actual sharing of another’s feelings.

This essay looks to evaluate Mandeville’s argument against the politics of compassion. The paper argues that Mandeville`s arguments are not do not succeed in rebutting the politics of compassion. The paper begins by explaining the politics of compassion, a view which holds that we should act to help others. The paper then discusses Mandeville’s two criticisms of the politics of compassion, that the standard for being virtuous is too high, and that the consequences of being virtuous would be terrible for modern society. The paper then borrows from the philosophies of Feinberg and Kant to undermine the first criticism. They find that the standard for virtue is not actually too high, but rather that Mandeville`s definition is incorrect as it is both unproven and misunderstands the relationship between virtue and pleasure. The paper then argues against Mandeville`s second criticism by borrowing from Smith and the conclusions drawn from the first part of the essay. In turn they find that pleasurable virtues are also capable of performing the role that Mandeville holds only vices are capable of. The

I had to make a choice between saving a loved one or saving civilians; personally, I didn't think twice about saving innocent people because as a player I didn't get a chance to become emotionally attached to the love interest. I think it's interesting that the choice to save the civilians was rewarded as moral, it negates the fact that an innocent person still ends up getting killed. Ironically, towards the end of my time playing, I had to make another choice regarding the life of a person, who was pinned as a bad guy; when I made the decision to kill the mercenary it was considered a bad deed. Very obviously throughout the game, there's a clear sense of what it means to be a good and moral person. It felt like a chore to have to interact with other people in the towns that I'd visited to gain followers.

Sympathy is feeling pity or sorrow for someone else’s misfortune. Living in a life without sympathy would be a very dull emotionless life. According to Candace Clark, there are three sympathy rules in the American culture, which include: do not make false claims to sympathy, do not claim too much sympathy, and claim some sympathy. Not making false claims to sympathy means that to not lie while being sympathetic and do not exaggerate. Do not claim too much, too often, and too often sympathy.

Before the presence of sympathy in animals can be discussed, one should understand the definition of the concept of sympathy itself. Sympathy is a rather easy concept to act upon but difficult to decipher accurately. Through sympathy, one might aid a person in distress for no self-benefit but purely due to good nature. According to philosopher Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, every person on this Earth has the capability to feel or even automatically be affected by a wave of sympathy at least once in his or her lifetime. As Smith states, “How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him,

Now that both sides have been established, those stakeholders who favor and those who oppose the policy in question, each of their argument 's evidence and reasoning will be analyzed. The corresponding pages which follow will provide an understanding of each side through three developed sections: a critical analysis, moral reasoning, and a tentative solution. The critical analysis will thoroughly measure to what level an argument 's authoritative, accuracy, reliability, precision, applicability, and etc. is able to represent their claims. At the same time the critical analysis includes a judgement call on whether or not a side 'wins ' or 'loses ' each of their arguments based upon the strength and weakness of the argument 's claims and evidence. The moral reasoning section will then secondary the value of each side 's evidence, and focus on analyzing each side 's moral reasoning, or rather, evaluating what "values, obligations, consequences, and normative principles" present reasonableness to their position on morality. Following these two sections of analysis, a conclusion will be made on which of the two sides makes an overall stronger, more conclusive and moral argued solution to the normative question.