Week 1 Discussion 2 Essay
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School
American Public University *
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Course
337
Subject
Philosophy
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
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3
Uploaded by anhp0911
Using the understanding you have reached up to this point in your life and what you have learned
in the course so far, describe the role that ethics plays in your life and reflect on how the
philosophical study of ethics might affect your life.
How might it influence the nature of your relationships with others?
How might it be advantageous to you in your daily life or in your career?
How might it change your beliefs about reality and the meaning of life?
Do you think philosophy can teach you anything about ethics, or is ethical knowledge
something that one can attain only from one's family, religious or cultural tradition, or
perhaps simply from life experience?
Support your position using whatever evidence you believe to be relevant.
We all live in our own worlds with a set of rules that we use to govern our lives. We have
a set of protocols that help us dictate what is right and what is wrong. We have boundaries when
it comes to morality and we as humans tend to let things slide when it's convenient. All of these
combined allow us to differentiate between good and bad in our minds. We have these
restrictions for a good reason, we use them to protect our mental health, and physical health and
just as a guideline for everyday life. We all have ethical principles that help govern our lives, but
do we understand why that is? Seldom do we stop and try to ask why we have these guidelines,
and dig deeper than just surface level. A philosophical understanding of ethics helps us
understand the things that govern our lives and allows us to establish our own ethical principles
that positively shape our lives.
Our lives are constantly changing and evolving, we meet new people and learn new
things, it’s a nonstop rollercoaster of a ride. We move at such a fast pace that it’s important for us
to take a step back and examine things so we understand what is going on and why. If we look at
a car there are thousands of moving pieces, fluids, and other things that work together to keep us
moving. Our lives are the same, thousands of moving parts that need oil, and water and have to
work together to keep moving forward. According to our text, “It is not enough just to have
moral rules; we should, as moral, mature persons, be able to justify our viewpoints with ethical
arguments or, at the very least, ask ourselves why we feel this way or that about a certain issue.”
(Rosenstand, 2021,pg.8). Having this deeper understanding of our viewpoints gives us a sort of
moral, ethical compass within ourselves. The philosophical understanding of ethics gives us
comfort in our decision-making and the ability to justify our beliefs and systems with sound
reasoning. It’s being able to answer why we do the things we do when someone asks and being
able to defend the boundaries, both ethical and moral, that we have set for ourselves. Moral
philosophy gives us the ability to ask what, when, and why, and from that create a sort of
framework of what is right and what is wrong, what is ethical and unethical.
A philosophical understanding of ethics helps us understand the things that govern our
lives and allows us to establish our own ethical principles that positively shape our lives. I say
positively shapes our lives because these ethics help us make proper decisions and adhere to
certain standards. Manuel Velasquez and associates from Santa Clara University wrote an article
titled, “What is Ethics?” In this, they talk about ethics being standards of right and wrong.
(Velasquez, 2010) stated, “Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the
reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical
standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty.” (para.10).
there exists an overall consensus that the philosophical understanding of ethics helps us be more
resolute in our decisions, and understand why things are the way they are. If we didn’t study the
morality of our ethical standards people wouldn’t question things like those mentioned in the
earlier quote of stealing, murder, and fraud. Studying our ethical standards with philosophy can
continue to teach us why we do things and more importantly how to change what we are doing if
it is immortal or unethical.
References
Rosenstand, N. (2018).
The moral of the story: An introduction to ethics
. McGraw-Hill
Education.
Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M. (n.d.).
What is ethics?
. Markkula Center for
Applied Ethics.
https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-
making/what-is-ethics/#:~:text=Ethics%2C%20for%20example%2C%20refers
%20to,honesty%2C%20compassion%2C%20and%20loyalty.
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