Moral Politics Chapter 1 Summary

In today’s society, education has shifted the way in how one thinks, making a basis were they acquire everyone in a classroom to grasp the knowledge being presented to them at the same pace. Those that are unsuccessful to comprehend in the way that was instructed to them are viewed upon as the most needed and deficient. Having a structured way in how one should apprehend certain information, sets barriers in the process of thinking. It prevents the mind to think of other solutions, and to stick to the certain idea.

In chapter 2 of the Ethics Primer Svara discusses many important ideas. Some of these included the importance of people who work for the government doing their civic duty , 3 types of ethical reasonings brought up by a student, and Lawrence Kholbergs model of moral judgement. In the book Svara brings up how people in certain roles have a job to do. They must meet the expectations expected of them or they aren’t serving the public in a full capacity. As you read on the 3 types of ethical reasonings are discussed. They are virtue, principle, and to be a public employee. This student I feel has a pretty spot on idea of how people should act. Honesty and following the law are just things ethically sound people should be doing. It doesn't take a genious to understand right from wrong. Finally a major point of the chapter discussed Lawrence Kohlberg and his model of moral judgement. “Lawrence kholberg (1981) offers a model of moral judgement to help understand how the capacity for ethical reasoning develops and explains the motives for acting at different stages of development”.(23) More specifically he gives the six stages of maturity children go through. These being punishment and obedience, instrumental relativist, good boy;nice girl, society maintaining/law and order, social contract, universal ethical

Decisions are shaped by one’s values and those values are not always correct. “A Secret Lost in the Water” by Roch Carrier, the narrator writes about the son that he has forgotten the “gift” that his father gave to him when he was young. His father taught him to dowse, but he did not value it, and lost his father’s treasure of knowledge. The son tries to dowse for a family friend who knows his father, but he fails at it; he is not able to hear the gushing water in his ears. He now regrets not valuing the important gift of dowsing water that he learned from his father in his childhood, and after he forgot it. The son valued writing more than his dad way of life so he made the choice of becoming a writer, he did not value it and ends up losing his “gift”. “The alder stayed motionless in my hands and the water beneath the earth refused to sing. Somewhere along the roads I’d taken since the village of my childhood I had forgotten my father’s knowledge” (page 106, Carrier). Now the son realizes that he has lost the gift his father gave him along his journey of becoming a writer. The son now regrets the decision he made of not continuing his father’s old-fashioned work.

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,

After explaining the metaphorical and cognitive basis of our daily interaction, Lakoff applied conceptual metaphor to the analysis of political motivating thoughts. In 1996 Lakoff introduced his book entitled moral politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, in which he introduced an influential metaphorical framework for realizing American political way of thinking. Lakoff makes benefit from the techniques of cognitive linguistics for a better understanding of the mental framework that underlie the contemporary American politics, Lakoff defines the mental concepts that make up a ‘Democrats’ and that of the ‘Republicans’. For Lakoff the ‘Democrats’ morals and political thoughts are superior to ‘Republican’ morals and policy.

In the article, “Laying Claim to a Higher Morality,” Melissa Mae discusses the controversial topic of using torture as a part of interrogating detainees. She finds the common ground between the supporting and opposing sides of the argument by comparing two different sources, “Inhuman Behavior” and “A Case for Torture.” Mae includes clear transitions from each side of the argument and concise details to ensure that the essay was well constructed. The purpose of the essay is clear, and it is interesting, insightful, and unbiased.

Chapter 4 of “The Elements Of Moral Philosophy” by James Rachels opens up by raising a question. Does morality hinge on religion and does religion then turn contingent to morality? In 1995, Judge Roy Moore was sued for having the Ten Commandments out in plain view on his desk. The American Civil liberties Union was called to act upon this infringement. The union stated that Judge Moore violated the first amendment, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances”. Despite the controversy with the ACLU,

James Rachels' article, "Morality is Not Relative," is incorrect, he provides arguments that cannot logically be applied or have no bearing on the statement of contention. His argument, seems to favor some of the ideas set forth in cultural relativism, but he has issues with other parts that make cultural relativism what it is.

The introduction of Alan Hunt’s Governing Morals: A Social History of Moral Regulation presents an overview of the many theoretical debates and resources spawned by the concept of ‘moral regulation’ – an ideology prevalent in the 1980’s which can be defined as a practice of governing in order to focus attention on social actions which attempts to influence the conduct of human agents. Through Hunt’s introduction case studies are utilized in paving the path for his discussion on moral regulation examining three British studies fluctuating from the Society for the Reformation of Manners which was active around the 1700’s, to Victorian aged sexual panics which allows for significant insight on early moral regulation projects. Although Hunt discusses multiple contentious issues on the concept of moral regulation, an isolation of some fundamental points in his

Professor George Lakoff of Berkley University makes the argument that individual’s political reasoning is determined mainly by unconscious metaphors in his work Moral Politics. He says that the metaphor that helps develop an Americans political view is seeing the nation as a family, which will separate people into either conservatives or liberals on the political spectrum. How someone views this “family” in its ideal state will separate them to either the conservative or liberal political view. Both the conservative and liberal views ideal family models have different characteristics at their core, such as conservatives have the “strict father or positional” model and liberals have the “nurturing parent” at its core according to Lakoff.

Sex is a topic that is rarely openly discussed in America. Some would say that is an example of moral decency, others might argue that this is just a prudish mindset we inherited from early puritan settlers. Sex for pay or prostitution, is one concept so at odds with this taboo that it has been declared immoral and illegal. Forty-eight out of fifty states have decided that prostitution should be illegal. On the surface, this widespread ban on prostitution may appear to combat the spread disease and sex slavery, but, upon further inspection, this assertion might not be supported by facts. The creation of a legal and highly-regulated form of prostitution in the United States could help slow the rate at which sexually transmitted diseases

Often times it can be difficult if not impossible to make what you think at that moment will be the right choice. One of the biggest factors that will hold people back is that to too often than not we are not completely clear on what type of result or outcome we want from a situation. Think about it, if you don’t really know what kind of result you want it is going to be pretty hard to know what choice is going to be the right one. So what do you do? You get a clear understanding, before you make any choice. Think about its effects in the long term, and short term. Knowing exactly what you want is very powerful. We have all heard the golden rule; do onto others as you would have them do onto you. This is probably one of the most important ideas to keep in mind when making good choices. When we are young a lot of us develop this me, me, me, attitude. We want all the toys, and we don’t want to share. Now this mentality may get us a lot of toys, but it defiantly doesn’t help you make friends. In this day and age a large part of personal success is based on working with others to achieve our goals. If we can help others get what they want, it will be much easier and they will be much more willing to help us get what we want. So when making any choice it is always ideal to think about how can I

Discussions about political morality and leadership often lead differences of opinion over the means to attaining them even in the face of numerous consensuses about the nature and scope of the end itself. This means that most commentators on the issue disagree on many philosophical or procedural bases but yet agree on some. A classic example of this dualism is represented in the leadership lessons covered by Cicero, on the one hand, and Machiavelli on the other. Whereas their lessons are fundamentally divergent in many regards, there are some subtle points of implicit convergence. The purpose of this essay is to assess with a comparison and contract of the lessons as found by the assigned writings of Cicero and Machiavelli. Both of these books providers time-tested theories and assertions that have been used to obtain and sustain power and leadership.

The idea of human dignity has been remarked and articulated in a number of the jurisprudence works of the mid-twentieth American legal philosopher, Lon L. Fuller. The Morality of Law, for instance, provides a valuable snapshot of Fuller’s preliminary sense of what his idea on human dignity might entail. In the core of his argument of legal morality, Fuller proposes that any neglect of eight principles of legality, which constitutes the internal morality of law, is not just only render the rational ground to obey the law and destroy the trusteeship between lawgiver and subject, but it further condemns and humiliates the dignity of person or human being as a free and responsible agent, self-determining center of action, and that they possess inherent dignity. In other important text, Fuller explicitly announces that the value of human dignity, over other extra-legal values, that must embodied within the structure of legal order. After he offers a long discussion of human capacity of action and communication under the forms of order, he writes: “ there is, therefore, in an ordered system of law, formulated and administered conscientiously, a certain built-in respect for human dignity, and I think it is reasonable to suppose that this respect will tend to carry over into the substantive ends of law.” Thirdly, in his draft essay Means and Ends, which can be considered both as an introductory of Fuller’s eunmoics theory of social order and Fuller’s reflection on the

Political philosophy is the study of basic questions about the state, government, politics, liberty, justice etc. political philosophy is concerned with the concepts and arguments involves in political opinion. It is ethics applied to a group of people, discusses about societies set up.In political philosophy it is important to know what ought to be a person’s relationship in a society. This seeks application of ethical concepts to social sphere. It is a standard which help to analyze and judge existing institutions and relationships. According to Bernard Williams “political philosophy is not just applied moral philosophy, which is what in our culture it is often taken to be….political philosophy must use distinctively political concepts, such as power, and its normative relative, legitimation.” Leo Strauss has said “Philosophy is the quest for wisdom and political philosophyis the attempt truly to know about the nature of political things and the right or the good political order.” In the history of political philosophy, many philosophers have born and influence the era with their theory. There some renowned philosopher from ancient time to modern are Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau etc.They gave theory on state, Justice, government, education. In western political history Plato is a legend philosopher whose thought considered wealth of the century and till influence the people’s thinking world.The Republic is his famous book where he