Ethics Term Paper

Gwendolyn McGary PHI 2600 Professor Mallory 04 May 2015 Term Paper “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” In ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King talks about the demand for equality among all people. In his letter, he acknowledges the concerns of extremism towards those viewing passive resistance from an outside view. Martin Luther King Jr. gives the people a grasp by distinguishing justice with injustice and inform us on how different members of society portray a role within these limitations. Throughout the article, Martin’s letter tells us how he feels about equality. Examples are used to provide an ethical viewpoint where he states, “There are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”(King, 438). In the letter, he later uses events that happened recently in the world, comparing them to what Adolf Hitler did in Germany, and how it was legal but everything the freedom fighters did was illegal. Though ethics and law are commonly based upon each other, they can differ when self -interest becomes introduced. Ethics is based upon the interest of others while laws can be disfavored because of those creating them. If we keep this idea, we will breach the law. Jesus broke the law when he helped someone in need on Sabbath day. In World War II, the Nazi’s followed the laws against all ethics by doing what their leader, Hitler, told them to do and those that were against them followed their ethical rights against all laws. “Excerpt from Man’s Search for Meaning” In the “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Viktor Frankl is a psychiatrist and philosopher that lived in the Nazi era, which was one of the worst periods of history for certain humans. Frankl research as a prisoner in the concentration camps and therapist gives him the idea of logo therapy. Logo therapy is a type of therapy through meaning. In the beginning of this book, Frankl states his purpose of creating the book not to prove factual accounts, but explain experiences in today’s society. A former prisoner states, “No explanations needed for those who have been inside, and others will understand neither how we felt then how we feel now,” (Frankl, 6) because in the article, Frankl talks about the inmates in the camp(including himself) and how no one would understand from the outside looking in how much pain they endured. In the article, I feel that it was ethically wrong to treat Jews like they were nothing and to destroy their self-esteem and confident like that was just immoral. Those people were humans just like everyone in the world, but because the Nazi’s leader told them to do it, in a sense it was ethical, because they had to obey the law. It disgusting and dehumanizing, but in the “Bible,” God said, “obey the law of the land,” so in a way it was good on their part. But morally speaking, killing is wrong no matter what the situation is. It also states in the Bible, “thy shall not murder.” The situation was bad within this whole event, that people lost feelings and became use to the events of horror, and suicide was a solution, because there was no way out. “Moral Argument for Vegetarianism” In the beginning of this essay, Rachels talks about even with eating meat being normal, it is wrong according to Kant. Rachel informs us on how Kant says that if you’re cruel to animals, then it becomes hard putting up with men. And even though “animals are not self-conscious,” (Rachels, 633) and that the merely means is men. Rachels says that animal cruelty should be opposed not because of the effect on humans, but because of the effects on humans themselves. Just as humans are tortured, animals feel the same exact way. He says just because we inflict pain on animals, does not mean we don’t have intentions on doing it. He also tells us causing suffering on animals isn’t justified unless it’s a good reason like the production of perfume that is tested on animals which causes suffering towards the animals. I feel like killing animals isn’t right, because they have a conscious, and emotions like we do. When animals are killed, they endure the same pain as humans would, because they have flesh and blood just as well as us humans do. I’ve looked at videos and see how badly these animals are tortured and sickening it looks. I’ve also tried to become a vegetarian, but because our body is used to something we grew up doing, then it doesn’t feel right. People feel like eating meat (animals) is so common and normal that is nothing we can really do and that’s also a way of getting our nutrition. Vegetarian are morally wrong too, because even though they do not eat meat, they still buy products that have been tested on animals. So the outcome of being a vegetarian and a person that consume meat is the same, so in a way no one is right. “Moral Justifications of Capitalism and Criticisms of Capitalism” Shaw begins in the essay about how property should not be identified as physical objects, nor ownership being thought of as a relationship between the owner and the object owned, because someone can have ownership or property rights over something that isn’t physical. He defines capital as an “economic concept,” (Shaw, 138) which is related to private property. Shaw tells us that the key feature of capitalism is competition. Capitalism prevents equality, makes it hard to have self-respect, and creates poverty and alienation. What I mean by capitalism prevents equality is the working class makes up 99% while the capitalist class makes up 1%, but are paid extremely more than the people who work their lifetime putting in hard work. And also the 1% of capital needs are first. As long as lasts, poverty will last or worsen, which could affect the world greatly. Also capitalism requires people to be unemployed so they can make more money. “Ethics and the Bible” Rachels states in the beginning of this essay that many turn to the Bible when they have questions on how to live their lives. The Bible is called different and has many authorities that many other books lacks. He starts off with Clear Teachings vs Interpretations by informing us how many people use the verse, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations,” (Jeremiah 1:4) to clear up abortion when in actuality that bible verse has nothing to do with abortion. People twists the word in the Bible around to pass judgment on many people, because they know people know that the Bible is reliable and strong, and many people depend on it to guide them in life. “A few phrases are lifted from a passage dealing with some other subject and “interpreted” in a way that supports the favored moral position.” (Rachels, 2) I quoted this, because it is true; people will interpret what the bible say just to have a god excuse for their reasoning. We also learn that people interpret Leviticus 18:22 , where it says, “ You may not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination,” when in actuality the bible is not prohibiting homosexuality. But people interpret what they want and judge who they want with the scriptures by rewording them. Furthermore in the article it tells us we shouldn’t eat fat according to the Bible, and shouldn’t be allowed in to church after 42 days of giving birth, because it’s abomination yet people only use it against homosexuals. Rachels states that text that was created so long ago will not approach problems of the 21st century, because there is no advice about polluting the environment, the use of atomic weapons, and etc. In a way the bible does vaguely speaks on the 21st century. I’ve questioned myself on how the bible cold possibly speak on something that happened so far into the future, but then again God knows everything, just like in Jeremiah 1:4, he told Jeremiah, that he knew he was going to be a prophet even before he formed in the wound. Some people feels some certain way about the Bible, because God quotes how he’ll be back very soon, but if you read furthermore into the Bible, you’ll learn that God timing is way different than ours. In 2 Peter 3:8, it states, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness,” which means 1 day equals a thousand year so with his timing being different, he hasn’t been gone that long and he’ll be back. McGary 5 McGary 4 McGary 1