Morality Is Not The End All Be All

This paper explores the things that have influenced my moral worldview. It includes insight on what I consider when making decisions. I discuss who and what I look too when deciding my morals and what I consider to be right and wrong.

Wolf’s central criteria for one to be a moral saint, is to be an individual whose life is absolutely centered upon the pursuit of only moral virtues, interests, activities, and relationships exclusively for the maximum improvement of the welfare in others and society as a whole. An example of what Wolf’s moral saint would commit themselves and their time to, is instead of spending time reading books for their

Dwelling in the deepest recesses of the mind, hidden in the various cortexes of the brain, the fundamental nature of every human lurks seeping into the actions of the individual. Can morality ever dictate a society? The individual contradicts the group and morals become subjective. Morals form ethics, ethics form laws, but all must have nearly universal agreement in order to be validated. Due to this unavoidable variation of an individual’s morals the necessary consensus of morals prevents the establishment of a true moral based society.

John, also known as John the Savage, is the son of Linda and his father, who are both members of Utopia. He was born and raised on the Savage Reservation. John is an outsider both on the Reservation - where the natives still practise marriage, natural birth, family life and religion - and the apparently civilised Brave New World: a totalitarian welfare-state based on principles of stability and happiness, even if it`s a happiness of a superficial and bland nature.

Rhetorical Analysis: Do the Right Thing In Do the Right Thing, author Rebecca Saxe examines what scientist claim to know about morality and investigates the possibility that a basic, fundamental part moral thinking is shared by all humans across a variety of cultures, beliefs, and principles. This morality is quite diverse, just as the people in this world, but Saxe uses ethos, pathos and logos to lead audiences to discover that even though our different cultures, beliefs and principles can define what we believe to be right and wrong, humans contain a “moral instinct”, that is shared by all peoples, even those unable to identify morals. Saxe does not simply start by throwing near meaningless psychological and neurocognitive jargon at the audience.

Rebecca Saxe’s Do the Right Thing: Cognitive Science’s Search for a Common Morality analyzes multiple research studies performed on the ethical ideas of morality. Saxe uses three current studies to validate her argument, including a Harvard internet study, research on the cognitive activity in the brains of an infant, and analysis of brain imaging using an fMRI. She uses logos and ethos in this essay to support her argument that scientific research will never fully explain the process that a human takes to make a sound, moral judgement, despite all of the innovative studies being performed. Saxe begins her argument by presenting a scenario that helps the reader to further understand the topic being discussed: moral dilemmas. The scenario includes

When thinking about morality, it is necessary to consider how aspects from both nature and nurture, along with free will, may form ones moral beliefs and dictate ones moral actions. To understand how moral beliefs as well as actions formulate and operate within individuals and societies, it is imperative that a general definition of morality is laid out. Morality, then, can be defined as ones principles regarding what is right and wrong, good or bad. Although an individual may hold moral beliefs, it is not always the case that moral actions follow. Therefore, in this essay I aim to provide an explanation that clarifies the two and in doing so I also hope to further the notion that one’s moral framework is a product of all three factors; nature, nurture, and free will. The first part of this essay will flush out what exactly morality it and how it manifests similarly across individuals and differently across individuals. Contrariwise, I will then explain how morality manifests similarly across societies and differently across societies. Alongside presenting the information in this order, I will trace morality back to primordial times to showcase how morality has evolved and developed since then, not only from a nature-based standpoint, but also from a

The idea of values merely being subjective are a denial of the need and possibility of morality. Consequently, if morality is not present there will be no need to determine which values should be accepted as well as an acceptable standard of how an individual should act. Emotions are left to rule over to make the decisions. Where no moral judgement is practised then justice is impossible and crimes cannot be punished. This journal article further illustrates the problem with ethical subjectivism. If subjective preferences determine our ethical conceptions then no conception is inferior or superior to the other. However as we attempt to determine what constitutes an ethical conduct we do in fact find that certain ethical conceptions are superior to others. For example, in the context of the holocaust, we deem the sanctity of human life and non-discrimination as superior over the preservation and propagation of the Aryan race. Within Chapter 2 Lewis highlights one of the most intriguing aspects of human nature is that morals do not change but rather, they evolve. The sympathies of the average person have substantially grown within modern society as opposed to the past hundred years. There is now a significant development in the moral beliefs regarding issues such as the rights of women, racial discrimination, child labour and the abuse of animals for public entertainment. The main reason for this advancement in our moral view of society is our contact and association with other people. When we share common interests with others and strive towards one goal we are able to extend our affection to others as we share in their human nature. Even an increase in travel and the access to international communication has allowed us to encounter more people than any other generation in history. The conclusion of part 3 of the

The bravest of people are those who follow their conscience. John’s character in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World is one prime example of an individual that uses his idea of morality to influence his decisions and in doing so stray away from the unethical society described in the novel. This statement can be true in the real world today as well as often times those who stand up for what they believe in are shunned or challenged. In the novel, John the Savage constantly challenges immoral actions from the time he enters dystopian London through the conclusion of the story.

Although Aldous Huxley wrote, Brave New World, before world war II, the book relates to modern day times and presents challenges and issues that should be discussed and considered. When writing the book, Huxley was reflecting on the world around him. Mass production, growth in technology, and decreasing privacy was increasing rapidly and Huxley saw major issues in this. Brave New World is a reflection of Huxley's worries for the 1930's. The book raises many different questions for readers to think about.

The aspiration of any government is to control the people they govern in an effort to make their territory run smoothly. This notion is nothing new. The problem arises, however, when the methods of said control question morality. Brave New World tells the tale of Bernard, an Alpha-Plus Psychologist, who is unusual because he enjoys spending times alone and believes there is something bigger in life than sex and soma. He meets a young, popular girl named Lenina, and their contradicting values bring about bickering and a less than satisfactory relationship.

According to Wolf, a moral saint is essentially someone “whose every action is as good as possible, a person, that is, who is as morally worthy as can be’. In order to reach moral perfection, she argues, their lives are committed to “ improving the welfare of others or of society as a whole’. Wolf established the image of two types of saint, the Loving Sait and the Rational Saint. The Loving Saint, supposedly established on the traits of the utilitarian ideas, devotes their ‘own happiness in the happiness of others, and so he would devote himself to others gladly, with a whole and open heart’. The Rational Saint on the other hand, has the same ingredients to happiness as most of us, finds pleasure in material goods, but out of duty, sacrifices personal interest for the interest of others.

Before beginning her arguments towards the idea of Moral Saints, Susan Wolf distinguishes between two behavioural figures of

Humanity is taught to be moral, to do good and avoid evil. However those lessons become foolish when we ask what is morality, the thing that we are told to achieve. For many morality is doing what is good and doing good is moral. This roundabout answer may be satisfactory to some that only look at the surface of the issue, however once the digging begins the grad question of morality comes into question. While this question has been looked an infinite number of times without being universally solved certain patterns have been made in the conclusions great thinkers and scholars come to regarding morality. One of these particular ideas involves a rationalist perspective that rationality defines morality or that moral failings imply rational

The concept of morality plays an important role in human society. Through the discovery of what, exactly, determines that which is “good” and that which is “bad”, humans develop mechanisms that determine how they respond to or judge any given situation. What remains a mystery, however, is what, exactly, is the basis of morals. It is commonly believed that morals are learned through lived experiences, as well as, from those who act as each person’s individual caretaker(s). Even though these factors do play a significant role in determining morality, these factors alone neither create nor determine a person’s moral compass. In Paul Bloom’s work, Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil, we are introduced to the idea that morality, while partly learned, is something that is ingrained in humans from birth. Through multiple studies, performed both by Bloom as well as other psychologists, it is revealed that not only are babies able to perceive what is right and what is wrong, but also, from birth, babies are instilled with the innate knowledge of empathizing, valuing fairness and status, and valuing those who look similar versus those who look different. In spite of previous ideas, Bloom proves that babies are smarter than previously thought, while simultaneously recognizing the shortcomings of this “elementary” form of morality. Bloom’s finding prove to be revolutionary, in that they allow for the examination of different social structures, their shortcomings, and what