PHIL 202 UIU Representation of Organized Detailed and Well Presented Work Responses

R1

Why should a person be moral?

The question of morality is one the greatest questions that many people asks today. Some feel that it is good to be moral, whereas others feels that they should not be just.According to Plato’s story of the ring of Gyges, justice is always self-centered (Dorbolo, 2002).The story states that people engage in moral actions because they want to gain a goodreputation. Justice is, therefore, practiced involuntary by individuals because they have no power to be unjust. This review, therefore, talks about why a person should be moral, and where it is always in a person’s best interest to behave morally.

A person should be moral because being just earns him/her some good reputation. When an individual act morally, he/she is liked by other people, and perceived as a good person, in contrary to being immoral. From the Plato’s story of the ring of Gyges, laws of mutual covenant to being either moral or immoral arise from the outcomes of the two events. In our case, Gyges gets influenced by the desire to have power and rule (Dorbolo, 2002). With the help of the ring and the queen, he overthrows the king. Gyges acts immoral, though the outcomes favor him. By acting immoral, heruins his reputation. Rather than doing this act, he could have used ethical ways to gain power. People should, therefore, be moral to gain a good reputation.

It is always in a person’s best interest to behave morally. People act morally because of their own personal interest; i.e., not running their reputation, or because they want to seem good. In the tale, Gyges has the choice to behave morally by not overthrowing the king. However, he acts with the mentality that he cansafely take what he wants with the ring(Dorbolo, 2002). He believes that being unjust would guarantee him what he wants, in this case, power. His will to use the gold ring is voluntary, he, therefore, make a choice of being immoral rather than being moral.

In conclusion, people should be moral because being immoral ruins their reputation. When a person acts good, he/she is perceived as a nice person and other people in society lives with him/her in a good way and vice versa. In other words, people should understand that behaving morally is at a person best interest, hence the need to always being just, and avoid injustices.

REFERENCE:

Dorbolo, Jon. “Great Philosophers: Plato – Ethics – The Ring of Gyges”. Oregonstate.Edu, 2002, https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/Philosophers/Plato/plato_dialogue_the_ring_of_gyges.html.

R2

I think that in today’s world it is harder to find people with high morals, however I believe having moral traits is important. It is also important to be moral from a social standpoint. If a person resembles moral traits then their peers are much more likely to want to have social interactions with that person and be friends. If a person is unmoral it is less likely for people to want to surround themselves with that person. Also like Plato states in Ring of Gyges, anonymity plays a big role in how someone acts. Like it says many of use are just and act morally because it is necessary. However, if we are able to do something in a way of no one knowing its you then the way we act many times changes. So, it is important to behave morally because in today’s world it is necessary.

R3

I do believe people should be moral but I also believe everyone should be there own guide to what morals fit them best. Not everyone is the same and each person holds things morally different than one another we are all free thinkers and shouldn’t all be thinking the same morals. But in contrast to my argument, you can say since everyone are free thinkers, they don’t necessarily need morals. I do believe though, that everyone should have morals because the make you a better person. In regards to the story of the ring of Gyges, which grants you invisibility and and no one knows you have it. It also gives you a free pass to act upon what ever you want without any consequences because no one knows you have it. I would not use it. I could do whatever I want and no one would know but I would know. And if I was to do bad things with the ring, I would have the guilt overcome me at some point because I am not acting morally.

R4

I believe a person should be moral because it builds respect for your character. When talking about the importance of being moral we need to understand that not everyone’s morals are the same so its important to understand when to agree to disagree. A good set of morals are important and in a persons best interest if they want their childen to succeed and be successful in our large society. Morals are not something we are born with so we need to teach them to our young.

There are situations where it may not be in a persons best interest to behave morally and those are typically the kill or be killed instances that arrise but it often depends on if you were attacked randomly or if its a plot for the advancement of power, one is acceptable because it’s defending from a random act of violence and the other is not morally acceptable nor is it justifiable. In Plato’s story, the ring offers power that clouds judgment and changes the moral thought process. Gyges is an immoral and unjust character because he lets the power of the ring and of the king title guide him into making very unjust decisions for personal gains. Power is a very dangerous drug because when you drink that Koolaid, people often lose their respect for you, and when that happens morality goes down and so gained from stabbing every back on the way up the ladder. It is important to keep the moral high ground and work smarter as a team, as a boss, I find it important to prove there is nothing I will ask and employee to do that I am not willing to do myself and sometimes that means getting in the trench to help the greater good. When your morals are sound and you treat people with respect I find they are more willing to do work for you because they want to help rather than feeling like they are slave labor to an ungrateful person and produce less than desirable results.

R5

In terms of ethical relativists, you can see their argument. What exactly is deemed “moral?” In their eyes, only those in society and their judgement make the case for how someone feels about a situation, this a matter of emotion and opinion. For this, I am in agreement. Emotions play a heavy part in determining what should be deemed as just and legal which can feed into an opinion. If you watch a video of a man yelling at a small girl, then your emotions can send you into a tizzy and think that man is cruel without knowing the whole story. They make you have an opinion on someone you don’t know and about a story you do not have all the facts to.

R6

I would agree with this. This is the reason why there’re laws. For example lets look at the Wolf on Wall Street, Jordan Belfort, who rob people of millions of dollars with no real morale consequences. If it wasn’t for the law, Jordan still might be scamming people to this day. Another example would be drug dealers, and I’m not talking about marijuana, I’m talking about heroin, meth, crack, and cocaine dealers. The substances they sell are ruining peoples lives but those the drug dealer care? My guess would be no since there still selling drugs. A hot topic today is slavery; in the 1800s slavery was morally excepted in parts of the US and around the world. The slave trade still exists in countries like Libya. I’m almost 100% positive this wouldn’t be so widely accepted in the modern US. However with recent events it seems kids are being exploited and trafficked for the pedophiles.

R7

As it pertains to morals and simple right and wrong, I do not agree with the ethical relativist theory. The reason why I do not agree with this theory is that I believe that they are situations that right and wrong do apply. In some cases, emotions can affect people’s decision making when that person is about to make a right or wrong decision. For example, 1+1=2 this addition problem is as simple as it can get. The answer can only be one thing (2) and nothing else. The majority of the time when a person is argumentive about simple questions like so, it sometimes deprives of an emotional place.

R8

Will post in comm