Moral Theories

Moral Theories

1. Utilitarianism
2. Duty
3. Virtue
3. Religious

Guidance by Consequences
Utilitarianism - John Stuart Mill
- Goal to minimize harm and maximize benefit to one self and others

Principle of Utility
- Greatest happiness for the greatest number

Difficulties in practice
- The uncertainty of predicting consequences ad difficulties of weighting them
- To define key concepts as 'justice'


Guidance by Principles / Duty 
Deontological Theories - Immanuel Kant 
- Principles of justice
- Duty to do no harm
- Duty to help

Difficulties in Practice
- How to rank duties when they contradict
- To define key concepts as "justice"

Guidance by Virtue 
Teleological Theories - Aristotles 
- The ultimate goal for living creature is happiness
- By living a virtuous life you will gain happiness

What are the virtues?

Guidance by Supreme Being 
- Obey God
- Treat others as yourself
- Respect God's creatures


Objective or Subjective 
- Is there a possibility of moral universals?
- Moral Relativism 
- Should our respect for different cultural traditions overrule our respect for human rights

Moral Education
- Can morality be taught? If the answer is yes then how?
- If our moral beliefs are the results of a cultural condition, why not say the same about out scientific belief
- Are intelligent people more moral than unintelligent?

If there was only one common language for all, what would be...

If there was only one common language for all, what would be... 

The advantages? 

- We would better understood by others 

- Ease of communication 

- Politics and foreign affairs would go smoother

- It would free the world up for more travel 

- No favoritism towards a specific language 

- People would feel more comfortable speaking

The disadvantages
- Different cultures would disappear
- There would be no development in language
- Certain foods and traditions would not have a name
- There would be no special languages for some disabled to communicate
- Lack of identity
- Lack of privacy


The Implications 
- We would be losing a sense of culture
- There would loss of identity and difference
- The implications
- Our world could become boring 

MERCATOR PROJECTION TASK 20 / 9 / 17

Read the following article 

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/19/boston-public-schools-world-map-mercator-peters-projection#img-2

Identify Three Claims 

1. "A district will drop the Mercator projection, which physically diminished Africa and South America, for the Peters, which cut the developed world down to size. 

Boston’s public schools began phasing in the lesser-known Peters projection, which cuts the US, Britain and the rest of Europe down to size. Teachers put contrasting maps of the world side by side and let the students study them."

2. "The mercator projection is not an accurate representation of a world map. Mercator’s distortions affect continents as well as nations. For example, South America is made to look about the same size as Europe, when in fact it is almost twice as large, and Greenland looks roughly the size of Africa when it is actually about 14 times smaller. Alaska looks bigger than Mexico and Germany is often right in the middle of the picture, not to the north – because publishers frequently cropped off Antarctica and then re-centered the Mercator map, resulting in the equator appearing two-thirds of the way down the image."

3. “The Mercator projection is a symbolic representation that put Europe at the center of the world. And when you continue to show images of the places where people’s heritage is rooted that is not accurate, that has an effect on students.”

Definitions

The Paradigm Shift 

According to the Meriam Webster dictionary, the paradigm shift is an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way This discovery will bring about a paradigm shift in our understanding of evolution.

Ethical Bias 

 An ethical bias is a preference towards a thing that has been decided by the persons moral principles of actions.

European imperialism 

The policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies. 2. advocacy of imperial or sovereign interests over the interests of the dependent states. 3. imperial government; rule by an emperor or empress. Specifically in Europe. 

Sources:

1. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/imperialism

3. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paradigm%20shift