Final Project: Part 4

After reading this book I definitely thought about things differently. People think that money and materialistic things bring you happiness but ultimately I do not agree with this statement. I believe that the people in your life bring you happiness and the choices you make impact your happiness as well. I make sure to surround myself with positive and influential people because I believe that the people you surround yourself with have a huge impact on your happiness. I could not have asked for a better family and friends to occupy my time with me and I do not know what I would do without them. I also believe that the choices you make have a huge impact on your happiness as well. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and I believe that the choices I make are decided for a reason and that everything will work out one way or another.

 

Ethics Final Paper- Ali Rossini

Course Reflection

Reflection Questions 1:   

https://aliro14blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/lesson-5-assignment-3/

This post is my favorite because it incorporates the people who are closest to me.  My friends and family mean so much to me and I do not know where I would be without them.  This post is also good because I get to explain what it is like to be female. I love being a female because there are so many good things that go with it and this is why this as my favorite blog!

https://aliro14blog.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/lesson-3-assignment-1-pleasures/

This post is my least favorite because it was the first post I did. I did not really think about it in the way I think about things know from taking this class. I would definitely read more into the paragraph and try to summarize my ideas a little differently. I would also have added a few more pictures.

https://aliro14blog.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/assignment-3-lesson-2-chemical-castration/

This post gave me the most trouble writing because I did not exactly know how I felt about the whole topic. At one point I think it would be a good idea because of what they did but at the same time I think about the whole picture and do not really know how I feel.

https://aliro14blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/lesson-5-assignment-2/

I learned the most from this post because I was really interested in this topic and I read a lot about it. I am very passionate about people who are less fortunate still living their lives to the most they can because their disability does not define who they are. I learned that everyone deserves the chance to live their lives no matter what disability they might have.  

Reflection Questions 2:  

            The most interesting thing I have learned this course was I need to focus more on what is going on in the world other than just what is going on in my life. This class made me think about things a lot differently especially the section about animals. I never really put a lot of thought into what animals go through and I want to make sure I do as much as I can to make sure animals are treated correctly and appropriately.

Reflection Question 3: 

I do not believe that my morals have changed after taking this class but I definitely know a lot more about myself about how I feel towards certain things. After taking this class I definitely began to think about things I do not usually think about and it also gave me a different perspective towards certain situations or things that are going on in my life. I believe that the people in your life are so important and it’s the little things that make a difference!

Reflection Questions 4:

 If I was the teacher for this class I would have done it the exact same way you did. I really enjoyed putting my ideas and thoughts out there through blog posts. I also enjoyed being able to view other peoples blogs and give my opinion on their perspectives and blogs. I would definitely include all of the sections you included because each one made me look at things differently whether it had been about me or about a certain idea. I have taken other online classes and they do really have you interact with the other students but with this course we were able to interact and comment on each other’s blogs. I would definitely recommend this course to other students because it was a class that I enjoyed taking. I really enjoyed the assignments that we had to do and it was stuff that I felt was helping me grow as a person. Taking this course gives you different peoples perspectives which can help you grow as a person because you are not just thinking one way. 

 

 

I posted this picture because we made it through the semester and I only have one more semester left and I graduate! Thank you for a great semester and I really enjoyed reading all the blogs and learning about all these ideas. 

Final Project Part 3

*Throughout the course we have discussed many concepts and ideas of morality but I believe that happiness is one of the main points in the book How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. The main philosophers who focused on Happiness were Kant and Aristotle. Kant and Aristotle believed that happiness is everyone’s ultimate goal. Kant also believed that happiness came with helping others reach total happiness as well. The main goal in this book was to become rich and successful. Becoming rich does not bring permanent happiness it brings you temporary happiness which doesn’t mean very much.

*Throughout the book the main character did a lot for the people he cared about and did a lot for him to achieve the fortune he wanted. Money does not always bring happiness and the main character knew this so even at the end when he lost all his money he ended up still being happy because he was with the love of his life and all the money in the world could not replace this.  This book demonstrates a very good point that money does not bring you happiness it’s the little things and the people in your life that bring you ultimate happiness.

 

*This book was very different from any other book I have read. I have never read a book before that the author does not use names to define each character. I sometimes found it difficult to follow along with the story line because of the way he explained the story. I enjoyed that every chapter had a different lesson to learn and he made each lesson very relatable. The way the book flowed made it very easy to read and I found it very hard to put it down at times!
*In my opinion the overall moral of How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is no matter the amount of money you have if you are not surrounded by the things and people you love you will not reach ultimate happiness. In shorter version, money does not bring you happiness and people need to start realizing that money is just a commodity that if anything brings more stress in your life.

Lesson 6 Assignment 2

1. What is your culture? What is your closets community? How does your culture and community influence who you are?
I have lived in a small town in Massachusetts my whole life and I would say that my culture could be defined as a north eastern culture since I grew up in New England. My culture can be contributed to the people who have surrounded me while growing up, the way I talk, the way I dress, the types of food I eat and many more. My culture and community have influenced me because they have molded me into the person I am today. Growing up in small town made it very easy to be engaged within my community and I believe that it made me into the person I am today. My closest community would be the place I grew up which was Holliston, MA. I lived there while growing up and when I am not at school I still call it home.

2. What are the THREE most important values you hold?  How are they influenced by your culture or community?

The three most important values to me are honesty, loyalty and empathy. Honesty is very important to me because what kind of relationship can you have if you are being dishonest with one another. Honesty is important to me because when someone lies to you they do not seem very reliable and I do not want to keep people around that I think are going to lie to me. Loyalty is also very important to me because it goes along with being honest. I am a very loyal individual to my family and friends so I expect that in return and when I do not I get very frustrated. Also if you are not a loyal person, you are not someone I really want to spend my time with. I also believe that empathy is an important value because when you are able to understand someone else point of view you are a much easier individual to get along with. These are all influenced by my culture and community because I was brought up to be a respectful, kind individual and these three things are very important to me being that kind of person.

3. What’s your ethics?  Given what we’ve discussed this semester, and all these different situations, moral perspectives, and philosophers  — WHERE DO YOU STAND?

I am the kind of person who is always trying to do the right thing. I always want to make sure everyone that I am surrounded by is happy because when others are happy so am I. I believe that honesty and loyalty are so important and without these things you are going to have a very nonfunctional life. I am all about the little things meaning the most and if I am able to make someone’s day by doing a tiny gesture it is totally worth it for me.

I choose this picture of the welcome to Holliston sign because this is where I grew up and had a huge part in molding me into the person I am today. 

I also choose a picture of Worcester States Campus because the past four years here have helped me figure out who I am and who I want to be with I am older and I am thankful to have had the experience. 

 

Lesson 6 Assignment 1

“Today we condemn ethnocentrism, the uncritical belief in the inherent superiority of one’s own culture, as a variety of prejudice tantamount to racism and sexism. What is right in one culture may be wrong in another, what is good east of the river may be bad west of the same river, what is a virtue in one nation may be seen as a vice in another, so it behooves us not to judge others but to be tolerant of diversity”

 My own words:

I believe that this paragraph is saying that today we condemn the idea of ethnocentrism, which is the belief of the superiority of the social or cultural group that a person belongs to.  We condemn it because who is to say which culture or group of people is better than another. People see things differently between each culture and just because you have a different view on things then the other doesn’t make it wrong or lessen the value of the group or culture.

 My Opinion:

I selected this paragraph because as soon as I read it I was interested in the idea behind it. The last line is “So it behooves us not to judge others but to be tolerant of diversity”, I choose this line because but condemning ethnocentrism we are allowing ourselves to be more tolerant of diversity between cultures because we are not viewing each cultures as being more superior then the others. I also enjoyed this paragraph because it explains how people within cultures see and interprets things in many different ways and just because someone views something differently does not make their belief wrong.

Views on pluralism:

1. “As a universal value, members of one culture have no right to evaluate the moral values of another culture” I agree with this statement because within different cultures things are done so differently and just because things are different does not give right for another culture to evaluate or judge what these individuals are doing.

2. The argument against subjectivism is convincing because he identified that it would make morality a much more useful concept which I believe is very true. He states that one person might think something is okay but someone else might not but the only way we could see if it is wrong is if the individual went against his own principles. Everyone see’s and interprets things differently which is explained in this section.

3. I think the argument against the conventional relativism is strong and convincing. He states that morality is relative to its culture and I believe this is true because within each cultures people genially believe and feel the same things. You can belong within a group of people that has entirely different values then the whole society they live in and this has to be accepted.

4. We are not here to make moral judgments because everyone morals are different and just because I believe something does not mean everyone does and who I am to think I can judge people for not believing in the same thing as me. There are moral values within cultures but not everything is always followed exactly. 

 

Final Project Part II

First List:

1. It was morally right when the ex-wife came to visit him when he was sick
2. It was morally right when the narrator’s father took his family to come live with him in the city.
3. It was morally right when he took care of his father the last few months
4. It was morally right that the ex-wife helped pay for his medical bills
5. It was morally wrong when the sister was sent back to the village to marry some man
6. It was morally wrong when the kid’s parents had sex while the children were in the room with them.
7. It was morally wrong when the teacher hurt the boy when he corrected him.
8. It was morally wrong to steal from the DVD store.
9. It was morally wrong for the boy to use the phone he had for his own personal use

Second List:

1. I think that the main character was both a good and bad character because he would do good things at times but other times he would not.
2. The pretty girl was also a character that I can’t decide whether she was good or bad. I think that she was just lost because of her childhood and wanted to become a rich successful person and anything or anyone was not going to stop her. She was pretty selfish at times but I can’t hold that entirely against her.
3. The father of the pretty girl was a bad person. He was a bad person because he relied on his daughter and wife financially. He was not a good father and did not treat his family well at all.
4. The father of the main character I think was a good character because he moved his family out to the city with him in hopes of a better life. He cared about what happened to his family and I respect that.
5. The master was not a good character because he did not treat the people that worked for him very well.
6. The ex-wife was a good character because even though the main character did not treat her the way she deserved she still cared about him. She also helped pay for his medical expenses which was extremely thoughtful.

Third list:

Pleasure:
1. Whenever the pretty girl would call the main character
2. The first time the pretty girl and the main character had sex on the roof
3. When the family was able to move together to the city.
4. When the main character was able to go to school to get an education
5. When the main character spent time with his son
6. When the main character was able to spend time with his family
7. The first time the main character saw the pretty girl.
8. When the pretty girl became a successful individual.

Suffering:
1. The main character not being able to be with the girl of his dreams
2. When the main character was punished by his teacher
3. When the pretty girl had to live with her father the alcoholic
4. When anyone in the book passed away
5. The main characters wife not being given attention.
6. Getting sick from cancer

Final Project Part I

When I first read the title of this book I was not excited because I did not know what to expect from it. When I started to read the book I instantly changed my opinion on it and could not put the book down. Every chapter was a different example from him how to become rich or what steps to take to become rich. 

I enjoyed this book because of the whole story line. It explained the life of this individual from a perspective I never understood or knew about and I thought it was very interesting. The book started out him as the youngest in the family growing up then it just slowly transgressed into the each different step of his life. I also thought that his relationship with the pretty girl was interesting. They were destined to be together but the pretty girl always fought. There were so many times throughout the book that I thought it was going to be the time they would be together but I kept being wrong I was happy thought that she stayed with him till the very end of the book.

Something that I found weird about the book was that no one had names. Everyone was a description of who they are, whether it be sister, brother, the pretty girl, and the master. I thought this was interesting because usually in books you have names for the characters and without them I found it to be interesting. I also found it sometimes hard to understand the story line all the time because he seemed to jump around with what he was explaining and it made it hard to understand at times. 
             

Lesson 5 Assignment 3

1. What is your gender? How do you feel about being a female/male? What does it mean to you in terms of your identity? ‘Do you think that your ethical view conforms to ethics of care/ethics of justice? Why or why not?

I am a female and It is awesome! I ENJOY being a girl because of all the girly stuff we get to do. I love doing my nails and getting my hair done! I love to go shopping with my friends and be able to talk about things for hours. All of these things are a part of being a girl and I enjoy doing all of them. The only reason I would want to be a guy would be the sole reason of the way they can dress, they have the ability to wear anything and most of the time it looks good! The way I feel about being a girl would relate to my identity because it explains who I am. I definitely conform to ethics of care because I am an individual who reacts to things with my emotions and feelings rather then following ethical rules. I believe this identifies who I am because I react as a typical female would with things.

2. Who do you consider your best friend and why?  Describe your relationship to him/her in terms of trust, equality, fairness, love, caring, empathy and responsibility.  Discuss how easy or difficult is it to keep these qualities in your friendship?  Can you have more than one best friend?  Can you have many best friends?  Why or why not?

I can not pick just one of my friends and define them as my best friend because I have so many people who are close to me in my life. Before I came to college my core groups of girl friends were five girls named Aurelia, Kara, Carry, Erin, and Kristen. These girls I grew up with and they have been there for me through so much. We experienced growing up together and I could not have asked for better friends to enjoy my younger days with. We experienced all together and I would not be who I am today without them. When I came to college I met a lot of different people but now that I am a senior I have realized who the people who are closest to me. These individuals are people who I surround myself with because they are supportive and positive and I do now know what I would do without them! Another person who I would consider to be my best friend would be my mother. She is such a caring and loving individuals and has always done so much for me and my brother and I do not know what I would do without her. She always wants the best for me and is someone I know I can always rely on to have my back.

 

“Those that MIND don’t MATTER, and those that MATTER don’t MIND” -Dr Seuss ❤

Lesson 5 Assignment 2

1. Would it be wrong for parents to abort a fetus with trisomy 21?  What moral responsibility, if any, does a pregnant woman have for the fetus discussed in this article?

I do believe that it is wrong for parents to abort a fetus with trisomy 21. Just because the individual has something wrong with them does not mean that they do not have the right to experience life like the rest of us. I understand that individuals with down syndromes do not understand things as we do but they can still appreciate things and everyone deserves to live their life the best they can. Individuals who have Down syndrome require a lot of time and patience but they are your children and you should be wiling to do anything for them. I understand that individuals who have down syndrome risk disease and dying at a young age but wouldn’t they rather live a short full life then no life at all?

 2. Are there any circumstances that would justify aborting a child with Down syndrome? Does it make a difference if the pregnancy is wanted?  Imposed?

The only circumstance that I believe would justify aborting a child with Down syndrome is if the mother is at risk of dying during birth due to health issues because if the mother dies the child might not have the live that he should have had and you would not want to risk that.  If a pregnancy is wanted and the person finds out the fetus has trisomy 21 I believe that if the person is wiling to commit the time and patience it is totally worth going forward with a birth because something like that could change your life forever in a good way in my opinion.

 3.What are the strengths of the argument that any kind of prenatal testing is wrong?

The main strength of the argument that any kind of prenatal testing is wrong, is that the number of fetus of trisomy 21 are being aborted, about 75 percent of pregnancies resulting in trisomy 21 are being aborted ( Pierce 2005). Just because your child has down syndrome does not mean that it does not deserve to be born.

 4. What are some moral theories that might bear on these issues?

The major moral theory that might bear on these issues is the conflict of abortion. Many people feel differently about abortion and but for people who are against abortion this could be a major concern because they feel that all fetuses should have the right to live their lives and what is different if the baby has down syndrome or not. Just because the baby has Down syndrome does not mean that their lives should be cut short.

 Resources:

Pierce, Jessica.  Morality Play: Case Studies in Ethics.  McGraw Hill Higher Education.  2005.NY

 

 

Lesson 5 Assignment 1

 “In friendship both fairness and caring are valuable. Although friendship does not usually center on formulating rules and applying them to cases, it typically does involve, as Marilyn Friedman has pointed out, a division of responsibilities in a more or less extensive mutual support system. A good friendship is fair about such divisions. Such fairness may even be a requirement of caring. Fairness in friendship also requires responsiveness to personal deserts or worthiness. If anything, to be a good friend one needs a better sense of fairness than to be a good citizen or soldier, an idea that makes good sense of Aristotle’s report that people say that “when [we] are friends [we] have no need of justice, while when [we] are just [we] need friendship as well, and the truest form of justice is thought to be a friendly quality.’ If “justice” here is meant to suggest enforcement, the idea seems sound. Responsiveness where enforcement is not forthcoming is a greater test of one’s fairness than where there is possible recourse to sanctions. If the idea is that the values of justice are superficial, however, it seems confused. For what makes sense of friends not needing justice is that they have the relevant values so well internalized”

 

Card, Claudia. “One Feminist View of Ethics,” from Identity, Character and Morality by Owen Flanagan and Amelie Rorty (MIT Press, 1990).

 In My own words:

This paragraph is saying that caring and fairness are two very valuable traits to have in a friendship. Friends are the people are you are supposed to be yourself around and there should not be a set of guidelines or rules to follow to have a good friendship.  A Friendship is a relationship in your life that should be appreciated and treated well. You do things for your friends because you care about them and you would do anything for them and the feeling should be reciprocated because a friendship takes both people to make it work. Be friendly to the people in your life because when you need help one day you will have those people to rely on!

 Opinion: 

I choose this paragraph because out of the entire reading this popped out to me. It interested me because it is something that I feel strongly about. I believe that you should be caring and fair with your friends because friends and family are the most important things to me and when I do nice things for my friends I feel happy and I know that if I need help or someone to talk to I can just call my friends and they will be there for me!

 

Views on friendship:

1. What is your understanding of ethics of justice and ethics of care?   Are they opposite or complementary?  Are they useful in understanding what we (should) believe and how we (should) act?

My understanding of ethics or justice and ethics of care is that ethics of care is characteristics that are found in women because women act and react with their emotions and feelings. They are more likely to feel empathy towards others. On the other hand ethics of justice is usually a principle within men because these decisions are based on ethical rules and guidelines and not based on their feelings towards a situation. I believe that they are opposite but also complementary because when you are in a relationship with a male it is nice to have that different view on things and visa versa. They are very useful in understanding what we should believe and how we should act because they give us a set of guidelines to help us understand situations and help us figure out how to react towards things as well.

 

2.  What are qualities of friendship that might help us formulate more general ethical considerations?

The qualities of friendships that might help us formulate more general ethical considerations are the characteristics of being caring towards the ones you call your friends and being fair when it comes to your friendships. Both individuals involved in a friendship need to put the same amount of effort in because that is how a friendship works. I believe you need to be caring person to be fair because someone who is selfish and only thinks about themselves will not be very fair.

 

 3. What is your definition of empathy and can you think of a situation in which you felt empathy towards someone else?  What can we learn from it and how could it apply to other, more general ethical situations?

My definition of empathy is to feel sympathy towards others around you when they are feeling down or things are going on in their lives. It also is when you can relate to someone because you have gone through a similar experience. A time that I have felt empathy for someone was when my friend lost someone close to her and I have experienced this before so I understood the pain she was going through. I could relate to her because when you lose someone close to you it is a very hard and I felt I helped her with it all because I was there to support her. We can learn a lot from feeling empathy because you can connect with people and be able to view things in different ways. You can use this in your life because when you understand more about what others go through you will less likely be judgmental or critical of people and their decisions and feelings.

 

4.Do you believe that too much emphasis on personal caring relationships will encourage many people to become morally apathetic towards larger ethical issues? Why or why not?

I do not believe that too much emphasis on personal caring relationship will encourage   people to become morally apathetic towards larger ethical issues. You should emphasize personal caring in relationships because it is a good thing. When people are caring and enjoy supporting others they will be more likely to care about ethical issues. They will be more willing to want to help people because they genuinely care about the well being of others. We need a lot more caring people in the world because I believe that if we did the world would be a lot happier place to live.

 

MULTI-MEDIA:  

I choose “You’ve got a friend” by James Taylor because I think that is a good song to define a friendship or a close relationship. My favorite part of the song is….

“You just call out my name, and you know where ever I am I’ll come running to see you again.Winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you have to do is call and I’ll be there, yeah,yeah,you’ve got a friend”.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEkIou3WFnM