Author Archives: Carmen Calderon

Blog prompt 20: Which approach to values do you find most convincing and why? How is social distancing altruistic according to Appiah (The Ethicist)? What is the point of his “driving with your eyes closed” analogy? What is J.S. Mill’s harm principle? Do you agree with Appiah’s conclusion?  The Common Good Approach is the mostContinue reading “The Ethicist”

Blog Prompt 15: Do you agree with Aristotle’s proposition that there are three types of friendship: friendship of pleasure, friendship of utility, and friendships in virtue? Can you identify people in your life that fall into any of the three categories? I do agree with aristotle that there are three types of friendships. The mainContinue reading “Nicomachean Ethics”

Blog Prompt 11: Focus on a particular component of the eightfold path and apply it to your own life. Do you think that right action would mean less suffering? Refer to both readings in your explanation of the connection between virtue and the cessation of suffering. “These three factors (right speech, right action, and rightContinue reading “The Noble Eightfold Paths”

What are the Dalai Lama’s main commitments? What are their benefits? Do you share any of his commitments? The Dalai Lama believes that in order to achieve peace, we should look for our commonalities instead of our differences. In order to achieve this, we need to be taught how to see each other’s commonalities inContinue reading “Global, Secular Ethics”

Should organ sales be legal? Give the Kantian argument. Do you agree? Where would a utilitarian stand? Organ sales should be legal. Some, if not most, people that sell their organs are lower class people. They donate their organs to make money for themselves and possibly family. Some may even sell or remove an organContinue reading “Legal Organ Sales?”

Summarize and explain the second formulation of the categorical imperative commanding us to treat people (ourselves included) as “ends in themselves” and never merely as means. Consider intrinsic versus instrumental value and how that value plays a role in moral theory. The main objective of one wanting to be a “good human” is to beContinue reading “KANT CI”

What are the strengths of an argument applying the utilitarian calculation to open borders? Is it a good argument? How could it be better? What are its main objections? Utilitarianism is the total utility of anything to benefit more than just yourself. In this case, we will talking about universalist utilitarianism. It makes sense thatContinue reading “OPEN BORDERS”

What reasons does Mill give in support of the Greatest Happiness Principle?  Is utilitarianism a “pig philosophy?” How does Mill explain the fact that some people choose lower pleasures over higher pleasures? Do you agree with his assessment? I did not fully understand the term Utilitarianism until this reading. From the reading I have arrivedContinue reading “Utilitarianism”

Can you defend Benedict against this consequence?  If ethical relativism depends on one’s norms in one’s own culture or society then it would be difficult to agree with the idea that abortion should be solved with capital punishment. Ruth Benedict claims that “…normality is culturally defined” and “..carries its preferences further and further”. The majority,Continue reading “A Defense of Ethical Relativism”